Unintended
by SofieGrey
Summary: Jenny heads back to Upper East Side with a surprise that was surely unintended.
1. Chapter 1

My little version of what could have happened... I always found Jenny's character the most interesting one. I know a lot of people "hate" her or whatever, but there is something in her that I see in myself. Season 4 of Gossip Girl.. I havent really gotten into it. Yeah Ive watched, but it feels so boring these days lol. So Im gonna pass time and bring on the drama with my story-

**I do not own any of these characters except one.. kind of.**

**Oh and this story goes more around Jenny so if you do not like her- PASS THIS STORY :D**

**Plus Georgina isnt a part of this .. and Ive made a few changes, but you will see... IF YOU READ!**

**So enjoy!**

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><p>She didn't really have a plan back then. She was just supposed to go to the clinic and get rid of it- like a normal sane human being, but <em>noo <em>she just had to have a conscience.

She just had to be stupid enough to actually go through with it.

She couldn't believe it at first, soon she got used to the idea and then she regretted it again as the pain woke her up in the middle of night and she found her sheets wet.

Jenny exhaled a shaky breath as she gripped the bed's metal sidebars.

"Darling, breathe," Her mother coached.

Jenny's eyes found her mothers comforting eyes as she felt the piercing pain go through her again. This pain was like nothing she had ever experienced before in her life, and she knew Blair Waldorf- knowing her was painful enough.

"I can't- I-I can't do this!" The hysteric girl cried out, and for a moment Jenny half expect her mom to say 'well, duh'. But thank God she didn't. She just looked at her as if she could feel her pain. These long dreadful months she had spent in Hudson did have a positive side to them. She finally understood why her mother left them. She now knew why it was better to back off for a moment. At the end of the day it was her mother who had been holding her hand when she walked first time inside the hospital for a check up, it was her mother who held her hair while she spent some quality time with the toilet in the mornings and most importantly- she had agreed to let her do this with her own rules, so to speak. These rules were simple; _Do not tell anybody about this. _Jenny knew that she was being a bad daughter to Rufus and a sister to Dan, but she did not want to make them suffer from her decisions, yet again.

"Not long now," Allison pushed a strand of hair out of her sweaty forehead, "It'll all be over soon."

Tears squeezed from her eyes, "Mom I don't want to do this. I can't do this!"

Why did she sleep with him? The question popped up in her mind again. Still she didn't have an answer to that one. None whatsoever. It had been a big mistake with huge consequences. That's how she felt at the moment at least- huge.

But Jenny had figured that she couldn't be selfish anymore. She was ready to take responsibility for her actions. 8 months, 3 weeks and two days later she is finally facing the harsh reality. Awkwardly enough they had somehow managed to make a human being within those shameful ten to twenty minutes they had spent together under his satin bed sheet covers. Shocker- she gives her innocence to him and Chuck Bass himself gives back almost 9 months of pure hell. So many nights she had cried herself to sleep. So many nights she had hoped that she was dead instead of being alive. So many nights she had wished she could turn back time and do things differently, but she couldn't. This was it. She was there having his baby and there was nothing in this world that would stop her or her insides. Everything was tangled in her mind; torn apart only by the waves of pain that ripped through her as the baby inside demanded to be let free. She moaned in pain as another contraction over consumed her. Giving birth to a Bass baby was probably going to be even more painful than giving birth to a regular baby, what with it being pure evil and everything. He wasn't even there to see the result of his handiwork. He was probably enjoying a big fat rich lunch with his perfect Blair while she was there pushing out his baby.

Just then interrupting her bitter thoughts the midwife came running through the door, panting slightly, with the a few nurses behind her.

"How is everything in here?" She asked as she approached them, while putting on a pair of rubber gloves. Her mom blabbered something in response which Jenny didn't seem to hear as she focused on staying actually alive from the awful pain.

"She's ten centimeters dilated," the midwife said to one of the nurses, who nodded. Her focus turned back to the desperate girl, "It's time to push Jenny."

"I'm not ready to push!" She cried, even though ten hours earlier she was more than ready.

Allison stroked her head relaxingly, "You can do this Jenny."

She doesn't scream at all as she pushes the first time, sweat pouring down her face and her blonde hair out of control.

"I can't do it!" The tears came again after the first push, "It's too much, I can't do it!" "The baby needs to come out, Jenny, you need to push!" The midwife tried to encourage her urgently. "I can't push…I can't p-push…"

"Yes you can," Her mom said quietly into her ear, "You can do it, I _know_ you can."

"I'm not ready." She sobbed and caught her mothers arm, "I don't want to do this! Please mom, I don't want to."

"Listen to me," Her mother looked at her closely, "You're the strongest person I know and I'm not going to let you give up now. Jenny, darling no matter what happens I want you to know that I'm proud of you and nothing could change that- You can do this." Her thoughts twisted and churned until they finally settled on one agonizing thought, "I can do it…" her chin quivered as she fought to hold back her just about does it for her.

Jenny pushed. And she screamed. And she pushed some more. "That's it Jenny!" The midwife smiled, "We have a head! Keep pushing!" Her baby had a head- That is a relief. She sucked in a gulp of air, gritted her teeth and closed her eyes. Jenny breathed in and out as she prepared herself for the next contraction."C'mon Jenny, one more big push," Allison demanded near her ear, "Prove them all wrong." She pushed as hard as she possibly could, yelling, moaning, swearing, sweating and then–

Sweetest sound of all filled the whole room. Crying.

She flopped back onto the bed in complete exhaustion, tears rolling down her face and beads of sweat pouring out of her. The unimaginable pain had eased considerably, but was by no means gone. Allison bursted into tears and kissed her daughter on the forehead. As cliché as it was- The moment was perfect.

Loud healthy cry caused her to open her eyes. All she could see was thick brown hair, his eyes were closed and his mouth was wide open, screaming in protest.

"Congratulations," The midwife declared "It's a beautiful baby boy."

She laid the baby on her chest and wrapped him in a towel so that Jenny could hold him briefly. A _boy_ – she had a son. Jenny stared down at the infant, she gulped and tried to take it all in. The little one kept crying, he seemed so confused. He was still covered with _stuff_ that would make most people gag, but it didn't bother her. She could feel his little heartbeat over hers. She could feel him calm down and soon the crying stopped. Carefully she touched the tiny being. He had ten small fingers and ten little toes,

"How can a person so small, cause so much pain?" She whispered to herself as she stared at the baby that was starting to get fussy again.

"He's just beautiful," Her mom sniffed, leaning in to have a good look at him, "He looks just like you."

Jenny tilted her head, her tired eyes eyeing the newborn. She was so screwed.

**6 M O N T H S L A T E R**

"Everything alright?" Allison turned to look at her.

She leaned back against the seat and gazed over at the rear view mirror. It amazed her how calm he stayed with the help of a pacifier.

"This was a bad idea," Jenny grunted and leaned his forehead against the car window, "Can't I just go alone and you can take Charlie back home?"

"Jenny," Her mom whined, "You have to tell them already. We can't keep pretending that he doesn't exist. Your father needs you and I think this whole fiasco with the gallery was a sign. Plus I'm not exactly made out of money."

The blonde rolled her eyes, "What am I supposed to say to everybody?- Oh by the way, remember when I slept with Chuck? She waved her hands and pointed at her baby boy who stared back with curious big brown eyes, "_Ta-daa_!"

She swallowed the sarcasm and continued, "What if he takes him away? I can't lose him mom," Jenny peeked again in the rear view mirror and into the happy face of Charlie Daniel Humphrey, her 6-month old baby, snuggled safely in his car seat. She smiled, "He is my baby."

Oh yeah, she'd rot in hell before she'd let Chuck get near him.

"I'm sure that son of a bitch doesn't give a damn."

Her daughters jaw dropped at her swearing.

Allison nodded, "I know I shouldn't say that, but after everything he did to you-"

"Mom," Jenny cut her off, "It doesn't matter anymore."

A moment of silence filled the car. Allison turned and faced her, her face more calm and reassuring, "You've done a great job with him."

Her lips pursed together as the tough memories flooded back,

_"Stop!" She whined, and curled in on herself on her bed. Someone needed to shut him up, "Moooom! I can't take it anymore!" The crying wouldn't stop and her mom didn't seem to be at the home. For the first weeks it was just her mom who had been taking care of him because she couldn't even look at Charlie without falling apart. The doctor had said it was normal for a new mom to feel like that- but that was the problem.. The young girl didnt see herself as a mom at the time. Oddly enough it had changed. She picked up the two month old, "Please…It's okay Charlie. It's okay. Shh." She whispered not believing her own words, eyes welling with tears. He wouldn't calm down and squirmed in her arms. Jenny sat in a nearby chair and began to rock him, "Please, don't cry," She sobbed, "Please."_

_It was not supposed to be like this. Her life was not supposed to be like this. It was so unfair. She did nothing wrong and still was the one covered in spit while people like Blair and Serena were enjoying their lives. Ignorant, stupid, bitches-_

_Bitter curse words whirled around her mind, but soon enough she realized that the baby had stopped crying. She could hear her thoughts. She looked at the innocent face of her child and swallowed, remembering why they still had each other- at first she had planned to give him away, but then he had smiled in her arms. It was something between a dazed and a happy expression or maybe it was just gas in his tummy. She didn't know, but at the moment it felt so right. Jenny had never seen anything that pure in her life and that was the moment she knew. She knew that this had happened for a reason. She wasn't alone anymore. She had a reason to be there. She was needed. Her baby needed her. The fragile blonde shook her head as the tears were coming, "We are gonna make it," She kissed the infant tenderly on the head, "It's just you and me."_

She looked at her mother as the memory in her mind faded, "Do you think that I made a mistake?" She thought to herself, "Was I being selfish when I decided to keep him?

"There is nothing wrong about loving someone."

"But-"

Allison cuts her off, "You love him Jenny. I see it in your eyes when you look at him and as much as I hate the idea of you having a baby this young- I can't deny the fact that this is.. It's what you needed. You can't let them get you down. No matter what anybody says, you're his mother and nothing else matters, okay? You love him and that's the only thing that you need to know right now."

Jenny took a deep breath and stared out into the distance, "This will change everything."

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><p><strong>Whaatchaaa think! Should I continue!<strong>

**REVIEW PLEASE AND LET ME KNOW ^_^ **

**THANKS!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for not updating**! but it took me awhile to get used to my new town since I moved etc.! Well now Im back and writing again!

Note: I dont know about the pairings yet because well- all these characters have interacted some way and there is a lot to come like: Jenny/Chuck, Jenny/Nate, Serena/Dan, Serena/Nate, Chuck/Blair, Blair/Dan lol. BUT mostly its about Jenny of course and Chuck plays a big part too with Nate and Blair... Dont like? Dont read :) Negative and posivite comment is always welcome!

Oh and the **name**! apparently it caused a lot of confusion: Why Charlie? Well THAT will be explained in the next chapter- it has a very good story behind it.. kind I just happen to like the name Charlie.

Storyline: Doesnt follow the show because I said so.. lots of themes from there, but major plot twists with my own creativity.

Copyright: Dont own this show or it's characters :( Wish I did.

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><p><em>Her mother stared at her in shock and horror. Her mouth opened and closed several times. She didn't know what to say, "Is… is this some type of prank by your dad and Dan? Because it is not funny in any way." She shook her head slowly.<em>

_"No, it's true." Jenny said quietly, leaning against her bedroom wall._

_Allison's jaw dropped and she leaned back against the wall aswell. She knew something was up soon as she started skipping breakfasts and closing herself in her room for the rest of the day. That morning she had found her crying her eyes out as she clutched to one of her pillows. _

_"How did this happen? When and who would do this?" her questions, though expected, still made the younger girl tremble as more tears slipped out._

_"We both know the answer to that, mom." It was the answer she had practiced inside her mind million times before coming forward with her secret._

_Finally, her mother raked her fingers through her own messy blonde hair with a loud sigh, "Who's the father?" she asked, her own voice starting to shake. _

_Jenny bit her lip and looked away quickly, "Don't make me say it." She muttered._

"_Jenny," Her voice was a bit intimating this time, "I need to know."_

"_It's…" The seventeen year old stared away, not knowing how to exactly say it. Her heavy breathing filled the room as the tears came back. She was soon on the floor hugging her knees and shaking her head, "I can't."_

_Allison went over to her and knelt down next to her, "Jenny, please."_

"_Chuck." Her disoriented thoughts gave her away, "Chuck Bass."_

_With a tired sigh and a deep breath, she took her hand,_

_"What happened, baby?" she whispered. _

_The teenager told her mom about her downward spiral, about how she had gotten a bit drunk with him after talking to her dad about moving to Hudson, that she was sorry, about how Chuck had made her feel like she wasn't alone for a moment that night, how sorry she was, that having sex had really hurt, about taking the pregnancy test, then taking four more, that she was really sorry, how she had turned out. A failure to her parents. The older woman stared at her for a moment before bursting into tears. Jenny quickly clung to her, tears streaming down her cheeks._

_"I'm so sorry mom."_

"_It's not your fault," She had calmed down a bit, "I should have tried harder."_

"_Mom…"_

"_I should have been there for you."_

_Silence finally filled the room as both of their tears faded. Shock had turned into confusion._

_"What do you want to do?"_

"_I tried to and wanted this to go away," She explained with a raspy voice as her mom listened, "But I couldn't do it."_

_Allison squeezed her daughters fragile hands tighter, promising herself that this time she wouldn't let go. _

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><p>Jenny raised her hand for the third time in attempt to knock on their door, but always ended up doubting herself and backed away from the door. She cursed silently as she straightened her leather jacket. Taking a deep breath and raising her right hand once more- she knocked the door. It felt like forever before she heard something very familiar. The sound of footsteps and her dad humming quietly grew louder as Jenny closed her eyes and waited for the door to open.<p>

"Jenny?"

Too shocked for words, she only stood there with her eyes innocently wide.

His surprised expression changed into a warm smile and he hugged her without much thinking about it. Rufus had missed his daughter and everything what they had experienced before she left had faded from his mind. They were only bad memories and what he saw now was something he didn't think he would ever see again. Jenny looked healthy. Her face was glowing and she had put on some weight- She still was thin, but not bony like she was before she left. There was something about her that made her look more feminine and mature. Jenny buried her face in the warmth of his flannel shirt while he stroked her hair. When the hug finally ended he took another glance at her and saw something he didn't like. The fear and worry etched across her face brought back those bad memories, "What are you doing here Jenny?"

She didn't know what to do. Suddenly running seemed like the best option.

"Does your mom know you're here?" He stared and said sternly.

Jenny gulped as she heard footsteps coming from behind her. Allison was carrying baby Charlie in his car seat and stopped behind Jenny. Dumbfounded, Rufus gazed at both of them and then his attention was caught by the baby boy who was happily chewing a toy in the car seat.

The young girl turned to her mom and snapped, "Mom I said twenty minutes."

"It's been over twenty minutes," Allison insisted, "So you didn't-"

"No I didn't." Jenny panicked.

Rufus watched them argue and then looked back at the baby, "What's going on?"

She looked at her dad and she felt like crying right there at that spot.

Thankfully her mom saved her from this, "Can we please have this conversation inside?"

Doubtful Rufus nodded and the trio walked inside. Allison placed the car seat on the floor and sighed, "You need to lay off the food little man," She scooped him up and gave him a sloppy peck, "Such a big boy!"

Jenny smiled and her eyes brightened up. This didn't go unnoticed by her dad who crossed his arms, "Ready to fill me in?"

Allison looked at Jenny and then back at Rufus, "You should sit down."

"I don't need to." He snapped back at his ex.

"Fine." She said back as fiercely.

For a minute they were all just staring at each other.

"I didn't know you were pregnant," Rufus shot a quick glance at Allison and then looked at the cute baby boy in her arms, "Who's the dad?"

The older blonde sighed and looked at her daughter. She knew this would hurt like a bitch for the man.

Jenny bit her lip anxiously, "Dad."

"What Jen'?"

She looked at her mom and gave her a slight nod. Allison smiled proudly back and handed the baby to Jenny. She embraced him and inhaled his natural baby scent. With tears in her eyes, she looked back at her dad, "I'm sorry."

Rufus stared at the sight frightened. He didn't want to believe what the rational part of his brains was saying, "Allison.. You d-didn't answer my question." he stuttered losing his cool.

Her voice was just a whisper, but it broke his heart anyway, "I can't answer that question."

There was deadly silence.

He stared at them stunned and took support from the arm chair next to him, "What are you trying to say?"

Jenny sniffled and tried to smile through her tears as she turned to look at the only thing that made sense in her world, "Dad, I want you to meet Charlie," Her voice was shakier than before, "My son."

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><p>He didn't want to raise his voice because of the baby, but he did anyway. After fifteen minutes ranting about how betrayed and hurt he was, he turned to Allison, "You knew! All this time!"<p>

"Rufus please," She motioned toward Jenny and the fussy baby, "Don't do this. Not in front of Charlie-"

He took a deep breathe and closed his eyes tiredly, "Jenny, go to your room."

"Dad, don't blame mom. I asked her to do this. Please, I'm so sorry-"

"Now!"

Jenny cradled Charlie against her chest and walked out of the room.

Soon as they were alone Allison looked back at him with a pleading stare, "This is difficult enough for her. Don't make this about yourself when she has been suffering for this entire time."

"You should have told me!" He yelled back angrily, "You two hid this from me, Dan-Dan for Gods sakes! This is our family! Families don't do this to each other."

"It was what she wanted!"

"She is just a kid!" Rufus glared at her, "Jenny is seventeen Allison. Everything she has dreamed off is gone. She is in high school- Did she even go to school while she was in Hudson?"

"No," She answered calmly, "I didn't think she needed the pressure."

"She had a baby! You don't think she would need some limits in her life?" He shook his head as everything was sinking in, "Who is the father?"

Allison had hoped he would catch that information on Charlie himself and his name, but apparently he hadn't. She awkwardly switched her position and cursed under her breath.

"Tell me already! Who is Charlie's…" It hit him like a ton of bricks as he finally said his name out loud.

"Rufus.." She tried to reach out, but he pushed her hand away and allowed himself to have a moment.

"I hope you're hungry, I brought lunch!" Lily's voice echoed as she stepped inside, "I went by that place on third street and figured-" She stopped. Confused by the scene, she took a step back and looked at Rufus, "What's going on?"

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><p>"How old is he?" Lily finally spoke up. She had her fingers laced with Rufus's and they sat together on the sofa. It took a lot of work for both of the women to keep Rufus there and not let him run out of the door. He was clearly more than upset and hadn't exactly been a fan of Chucks and his pretty face. Rufus sat there staring at the floor, his teeth clenched and knuckles white. He was ready to find that bastard and give him a nice makeover, including a black eye.<p>

"Six months. Soon seven."

Lily still couldn't believe what she was hearing. The fact that Chuck had done this with Jenny made her feel obviously guilty. She was the one who brought him into their house after all. She just couldn't comprehend that he would even consider going that low. She is underage and most importantly they were like half siblings. Lily's face remained emotionless while her eyes started to tear up, "So the times she has visited us… She has been a mom and last Christmas she was pregnant."

Allison nodded while Rufus shook his head in disappointment. Deep inside he knew something was up when she suddenly didn't want to even visit them later in spring. He remembered it like yesterday how she had insisted that they didn't have to visit her and she was better than fine. It sounded more like she was getting back to herself as time passed on. They still talked almost everyday and he never would have guessed that she was freaking pregnant. Her weird clothes were starting to make sense too. Of course she had been hiding the baby bump when she still could pull it off and was visiting them during winter break.

"I need to talk to her."

"Rufus," Lily squeezed his hand, "Just remember that she needs us to support her."

He nodded at his wife and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. Before walking out of the room he glanced disapprovingly at Allison, "I will _never_ forgive you for this."

The woman stared at the floor in shame. She felt actually hurt by his words, but still remained gracefully in her spot and took what was coming to her. Of course she knew they needed to know the truth, but she didn't want Jenny to end up hating her more. At the time hiding Charlie felt like the best thing to do. She would have never forgiven herself if something had happened to Jenny. Allison had definitely seen her at her worst.

"He doesn't mean it." Lily got up and smiled sadly, "He just gets that way when it involves somebody he loves."

Allison grimaced, "I should have told him earlier."

"We can't change the past."

"Sometimes I wish we could," Allison stared at the polished woman in front of her, "It's been one hell of a year."

"But you stood by her," She said supportively which caught the other woman off guard, "Not many mothers could do that for their daughters."

"Thanks. I appreciate that."

"So.. How is Jenny? I mean this must have been hard for her. I can't even imagine how she feels."

Allison suddenly smiled, "She loves that baby boy more than anything. The first months were hard, but she pulled through and I think this has only had an positive impact on her. I know she has bad days like all of us, but I think this all happened for a reason. Charlie saved my daughter."

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><p>For almost an hour, Charlie had snuggled contentedly against Jenny's chest, opening<p>

his eyes occasionally to peek at her. It was almost scary how he seemed be growing so fast. It felt like yesterday when she held him for the first time. He had been so small that she was afraid to hold him. She smiled as he yawned and the pacifier from his mouth dropped. A flash of innocent panic was seen on his beautiful big brown eyes. He managed to let out an ear piercing cry, wailing at the top of his tiny little lungs and Jenny sighed, "Gosh, you really love that pacifier don't you." She held the little one firmly while picking up the pacifier and brushed it off before putting it back to the baby's mouth, "Shhh."

Charlie gladly accepted the pacifier and continued to enjoy it like he always did.

She looked down at the baby in her arms and grinned when he tilted his head up to look at her, "I love you so much. No matter what happens. You need to know that Charlie." Jenny cooed at him, placing her little finger in her son's tiny palm and watching his small pudgy fingers close around it and squeeze it gently.

She grinned widely, but was brought back to reality when she heard Rufus cough. He was standing in the doorway to the her room. The air between them felt thick and stressed. Jenny held the baby boy, feeling awkward, especially when her dad watched her so intensively.

"I didn't mean for this to happen," She told him without looking at him, "I would be lying if I said I didn't regret-"

"No." He said, as if he didn't believe what she was saying.

Jenny snapped her eyes to him."I don't want you to say that you regret having him," Rufus said softly while examining the baby from a distance, "You made a brave choice and I'm proud of you for that. I just don't understand why- Why couldn't you come to me?"

Her bottom lip shook with the intensity of her emotions, "I couldn't let you down! After everything that happened with Damien and the drugs I couldn't do that to you," Her breath was caught in her throat as fresh tears came to her eyes, "The night Chuck and I… The night it happened, I swore to myself that it would be the last straw," She didn't allow him to say anything even though he looked like wanted to. Instead she continued to speak and finally said what needed to be said, "I wanted to protect you and Dan from me- from the person I had turned into. When I found out I was pregnant I knew this was someone saying that I needed to get my shit back together and deal with the consequences. I just didn't know.. I would actually feel like this," Jenny locked her eyes with her son, "I don't feel like I'm alone anymore."

Rufus looked pained as he watched her embrace the baby, "Jenny," For a while, he said nothing and when he spoke, his words came out confident, "You were never alone."

He walked over to her and extended his arms, "Can I hold him?"

Jenny's eyes widened. Her brain picking up on the fact that maybe she wasn't doomed after all. She sniffled once more and handed Charlie to him. Rufus stared at the little boy wide eyed as the baby lets out a loud, happy wail and then gurgled softly. He had a lot of hair for his age and it was thick brown. It matched his big chocolate colored eyes and the baby seemed to have Chuck Bass all over him. Rufus gulped nervously- almost a bit worried about how he would be able to look at the innocent baby without thinking about the man who seemed to bring chaos to their lives more than a hurricane. He looked at his chubby cheeks and smiled as he noticed a feature he definitely recognized. Charlie had inherited his mothers thin upper lip and most importantly, her smile. She wiped away the sticky tears from the corner of her eyes and approached them, "He likes you." She rubbed off the drool that was dripping down her son's chin. Her dad still seemed stiff and held Charlie away from him a little.

"_Bababababa_." Came his surprised babble.

A nervous dry laugh escaped Rufus's mouth, "Well this is.." He thought about what he wanted to say and swallowed awkwardly, "something I definitely have to get used to."

She looked at them with suspicious eyes, "You're not the only one."

"I still can't believe this."

"Dad.. I know this is hard for you and we are going back to Hudson soon as you're-"

"I'm fine," He held Charlie a little bit more closer now, "The gallery is fine. We had a little bump on the road, but Lily managed to get us more investors. There was nothing really urgent."

"That's good," She felt relived, "but, our home is still at Hudson. I hope you understand that. This place just-" Jenny looked at Charlie who was starting to babble and wiggle again, "It brings out the bad memories and I don't want that in our lives right now."

Rufus looked surprised by how determined she sounded- her whole attitude towards life had really changed and he could tell that by just looking at her, "I know that Jen'. I just don't want you to feel alienated from your family."

"He is also my family now," Jenny gave her son a wide smile, "I have to protect him from all of _them_." He caught the clue. She meant the bitchy social circles surrounded by the one and only Gossip Girl.

"What about Chuck?" Even saying his name seemed to drive him crazy from inside.

The tension returned. Her eyes met his for a long moment, "What about him?"

Rufus looked at the baby in his arms, "We both know I don't want to talk about the _pre-baby _situation, but I still need to know what happened."

"Then let's just save the embarrassment and don't talk about it." She snapped, her old way of cringing her teeth at annoying topics showing through, "We have a baby. I think that sums it up pretty good."

"Were you seeing each other?"

Jenny's nose crinkled up, "Ew! No. That's so gross."

Rufus rolled his eyes and handed her Charlie, "Do I need to remind you about this little guy?"

She sighed slowly, "It was not like that."

"Then what happened?"

"It was stupid," Her mind flickered back to the moment she'd seen him the last time. She had always believed in love and considered herself as a romantic when she was couple years younger. Of course that was when she was naïve and believed that making love would be a wonderful, touching experience that you would remember all your life. Then reality kicked in that night and Jenny found out it was far from that-

It's sticky and disgusting, literally. There was nothing romantic about the whole fiasco. It was mainly just him doing his thing while she tried not to move. Chuck wasn't really a gentleman either. She still remembered it like yesterday, how he hovered over her panting and growling while she managed to whimper a few times from the pain, definitely not the pleasure. She had heard from some girls that it would hurt for a few minutes. What a joke- It burned like hell and after several minutes of discomfort it became slimy and even more gross, then it was over. She quickly blocked the memory from her mind once more, "There is nothing more to it."

Silence stretched between them for a good amount of time.

"Jenny.." Rufus began slowly, knowing this was his last hope of getting any information out of his stubborn daughter, "Did he.. Did he make you do it?"

"What?" Jenny glanced up and his eyes seemed to dig into hers, "No!"

He'd watched silently as she swallowed herself in self-pity, "It was a mistake okay? I was stupid to believe that I could relate to him and he was my _friend_," She mocked herself. She laughed to hide the humiliation written across her face, "I just didn't care anymore. I felt like nothing mattered because everyone hated me."

Rufus shook his head and took a threatening step forward, "Don't you ever start blaming yourself for this."

"I do blame myself. Just like I blame Chuck. It wasn't just him that night," Jenny looked down at Charlie who had clung on to her long blonde hair, "But I'm making the best of it and as long as he is happy-I'll be fine. He is the reason why I get up in the morning and the reason why I'm here now." Jenny looked at her dad and smiled uncertainly, "He deserves to know his family."

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><p>"Wow." Lily had joined them in the room and stared at the baby who was currently being fed by Jenny with a bottle, "He actually looks like.." Rufus shot a glance at Lily and she realized what she was saying, "I mean.. he is adorable Jenny."<p>

Jenny rolled her eyes, "You don't have to tip toe around this."

"I didn't mean to be insensitive," She was being sincere, "This is just a lot to take in."

She understood that. Lily and Rufus had taken this a lot better than she had expected. Jenny had been ready be thrown out of the house and most importantly their lives.

She turned her attention to the nervous adults, "I'm sorry about everything. I didn't mean to hurt anybody's feelings." Jenny looked down at Charlie and smiled, "I just want him to know that I love him. No matter what happened in the past- I don't regret this." She could tell that this still bothered her dad a lot. He looked at her differently than he did before. Jenny knew that Rufus was disappointed in her and the way she had acted recently. She knew it would take a lot of work for them to understand each other again. This couldn't be fixed with apologies and a few conversations. It would take time, but Jenny was ready for that. She didn't want to worry about it because she knew that one day he would understand her. Lily had made her way to her and was perched on the side of her bed, watching Charlie with a smile playing on her lips, "He's gorgeous. A little heart breaker when he's older."

"I hope not."

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><p>There you have it! Craving for more? Drop a review! :) thanks for the support already!<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for not updating sooner. I had a total writers block.**

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><p>"You are gonna get me into a lot of trouble aren't you?" The young mom was on her back against the hotel's fluffy carpet with little Charlie on top of her who was staring back at her with his big eyes, "Why do you have to be so damn cute?" Jenny wrinkled her nose playfully and laughed as he did the same mimicking her.<p>

"Jen you need to feed him." Came a yell from the nearby bathroom.

She rolled her eyes. Still after seven months her mom was bugging her about taking care of her own child. She had appreciated it in the beginning because being seventeen and having a baby had driven her over the edge. She wouldn't be there without her mom today, but it bothered her when Allison was acting like she knew what was better for Charlie. It was not like she was a perfect mom now, but everything had changed for her and she needed more time for herself and her little man.

"Jenny! Did you hear me?" Allison peeked out the bathroom, her hair wet and a towel around her, "You need to feed him!"

"I know mom!" She yelled back causing Charlie to become fussy, "I don't need you to yell at me after everything that has happened today. Gosh stop being so inconsiderate." The woman who was clearly annoyed with her daughter shook her head and slammed the bathroom door closed.

They were staying in a rather fancy hotel that her dad was paying, but this was just for a couple of days. Jenny had decided to sleep the night and then tell the rest of the family about Charlie. Rufus and Lily had agreed on her decision. They also needed some time to talk this through without more people bugging in with their questions. Jenny didn't know what to think when it came to the next day. She had to tell Dan and it broke her heart. Thankfully she had Charlie who was keeping her busy, "We better feed you so that grandma won't kill momma." Jenny scooped him up and held him above her head, rubbing her nose against his, "You're such a goober!"

She had to keep going for him and him only. The next week was going to be a struggle. There were big decisions to be made. She had gotten used to the life at Hudson. It was simple without the backstabbing girls and the drama. The thought of being back at Upper East Side made her very uneasy. In the two hours that had passed, she had rocketed through a range of emotions, from happiness to despair, but, above all, she was extremely confused. The fact that her dad now knew was a huge relief. It would take a lot of healing for them and their relationship.

"Here is your _ba ba._" She gently started the rhythm of tugging on the bottle every now and then to encourage him to stop, swallow and breathe. Charlie was happy with the attention and occupied himself with babbling away with the few sounds as he was being fed. Jenny grinned at his adorably little face; he was so focused on the bottle. Allison stepped out of the bathroom in a white robe and smiled at the sight, "You want me to hold him?"

Jenny shook her head, her playful eyes turning gravely serious, "I can take care of my own son."

"I did not mean it like that Jenny," Her mom responded firmly, "You're tired and I'm just offering my help."

Jenny sighed and smiled weakly, "I know sorry for.. I uh.. I guess I'm nervous about everything." She handed the bottle and Charlie to Allison. The blonde dropped dramatically on to the bed with a huff and closed her eyes for a moment.

The older woman tried to read her, but really had no clue on what was going on inside that pretty head of hers. "Is…" She glanced down at the boy in her arms and then back up at her, "Is everything alright?"

Jenny's heart pounded in her chest. There was something that needed to be said, but she did not want to say it out loud making it a reality.

"You know Dan will understand," She tried her best to be encouraging, "I know telling your dad today was hard enough and it won't get any easier, but you need to give this subject some time. We made a decision to protect you and Charlie when he was born- remember that okay?"

Jenny didn't answer right away. She ran her hands through her hair and finally looked at Allison, "I'm gonna tell Chuck tomorrow."

* * *

><p>"…<em>Therefore if we raise the budget we have more to work with. With all respect Charles- this isn't working. We do not have the sources we need to make Bass industries.."<em>

Chuck stared ahead not even listening to the man who was explaining something about.. hell he didn't know or even care at that point. The little muscle in his jaw twitched nervously as he leaned back against the office chair he was sitting on. It was like his brains were stuck or had been stuck ever since- Blair. She had not spoken to him after coming back from France. Not that it was surprise. Blair Waldorf was one of the most- correction, was the most stubborn person he had met during his lifetime and Chuck Bass knew a lot of people. He had tried everything, but she wasn't giving in.

"Charles?"

He shook his head and stared at the man in front of him with tired eyes, "Yes… William?"

The man clearly wasn't impressed by the younger man, "It's Wilson, but close enough." He slammed the file he was holding on Chuck's desk, "My name is the least of your worries right now. We need some decisions if you want this company to keep going."

"Well, William.. Wilson.. whatever, I hired you to do that. So do your job and keep this place going." Chuck told him with obvious distaste, casting him a dark glare before going back to what he had been doing in the first place; staring at the wall in misery.

The man shook his head and took the file with him. He paused by the doors and turned to look at him, "One last thing- The investors are getting concerned so I advice you to stop using the money from the main bank account. We are already cleaning up after your mistakes and we don't need you spending the last dimes what we have on booze and whores."

Chuck looked at him square in the eye, "The next time you feel like giving me advice.. I would re-consider it for the sake of your job," His expression was dark as usual, "Out."

The sound of the door slamming didn't even make him flinch. He just sighed deeply and leaned against the comfortable chair. Without giving it much thought he opened the first drawer and took out his _salvation_. Chuck smiled at the bottle before pouring himself a good amount of the liquid. He held his glass up and looked at the portrait of his father that hang on the wall, "Cheers."

Small pitiful laugh escaped his lips before the amber liquid burned down his throat and made his head swim once again.

* * *

><p>"You want to talk about it?" Lily sat next to Rufus who seemed to be lost in his thoughts. He was looking at the baby book Jenny had given him earlier.<p>

Every page he turned seemed to tear his heart apart all over again.

"I don't know anything anymore." He sighed with frustration and rubbed his tired eyes, "I keep waiting to wake up. This is insane."

He turned another page with notes that Jenny had written when she was at the hospital. Rufus looked at the picture glued on to the page, "How did I miss it? She was pregnant the whole time and we had no idea. How is that possible?"

"Jenny is a small girl," Lily weighed into the subject, "I guess she just wasn't ready to deal with it back then."

"But Jenny is a girl! Like you said, a girl Lillian!" His stare was not hard, but rather unsure, "She is a child taking care of a child. How is that right?"

The woman next to him leaned against him and dropped her head on his shoulder, "I don't know. I really don't know Rufus."

They kept flipping the pages and looking at the pictures in awe. Not used to the idea of being actual grandparents.

"Did she.. Did she tell you how and when.." Lily tried to mutter out the question bothering her mind, but came up short, "I mean Chuck and her? What exactly happened?"

His whole body tensed up when he was mentioned, "She told me it was nothing serious," Rufus squeezed his eyes shut then opened them, trying to think around the pounding in his head, "They were never anything serious."

She didn't know should she sigh in relief or cry her eyes out because of the situation. Her hand found his and she squeezed it, "I know you wanted to go and have _a word_ with him, but Jenny needs to come clean to him before we go there and make things even more complicated."

He knew she was right, but it didn't mean it wasn't hard to just sit there when he could have been hunting down the bastard who used his girl and threw her out like trash, "I know that," Rufus's eyes were narrowed, prepared, "Tomorrow is a whole new day."

Lily felt uneasy because she knew this would be so blown out of proportions and someone would end up hurt.

* * *

><p>"You can't be serious." Allison tried to keep her voice down as they continued with the subject after putting Charlie into the crib, "I'm not letting you go alone."<p>

"Mom," She whined, "I don't want you there going all psychotic while I'm trying to explain to him that we have a kid."

Allison scoffed at that, and looked away for a moment, and Jenny didn't understand what it was she said that was wrong.

"What?"

"You're talking like you care," She complained, "Chuck Bass doesn't deserve any nice words and explanations."

Jenny didn't want to listen and her voice became strained, "Do you really think that I'm that stupid? Mom I'm going there to talk to him like a grownup because if you go there threatening him he will be even worse."

She waited quietly as Allison seemed uncertain of how to respond. Hoping to offer a little feeling of relief, Jenny reached out and took her mother's hand in hers, giving it an encouraging squeeze, "I know what I'm doing. Trust me. I'm doing this for Charlie and not him."

Allison smiled back, "I trust you Jenny, but I don't trust him."

"Me neither, but I'm not going to let him have the satisfaction of ruining Charlie's life when he is older and is looking for answers behind his door. I don't want him to know what and who Chuck is to him," She said, meaning every word, "I'd rather tell him his father is dead than it is actually Chuck Bass."

* * *

><p>Blair Waldorf ran a brush through her brown locks and focused on the mirror while doing so. Serena was lying down on her gorgeous canopy bed and yawned, "You mind if I stay for the night? I'm too tired to go home."<p>

The brunette chuckled and turned to look at her, "S, are you still avoiding Humphrey? It's been like forever and sleeping in here two days a week isn't much of a plan."

Serena crinkled her nose in denial, "I've told you this a thousand times Blair. I'm not avoiding Dan. We are being… normal- like normal people who live in the same house while one of them might have blurted out that they still love this other person."

Blair shook his head and rolled her eyes, "Why can't you just give in and tell him that you love him too since it's all you think about?" She flipped her hair one last time and walked over to the bed, "Even though I think you could find so much better than Humphrey from Brooklyn."

"I don't!" The blonde raised her head from the pillow and looked dumbfounded," I just need more time and I'm not ready to jump into that again. Besides," Serena mumbled tiredly, "Chuck isn't any better." Mentioning Chuck Bass around Blair was never smart. Chuck had made it to the does-not-exist list and was not coming out of there in a long time.

She realized the mistake of mentioning him,"I didn't mean to—"

"No." Blair took a steady breath and looked back at her, "No. It's okay. I'm so over it."

Serena can't help but wonder if she really does mean it. A silence fills the room, "I wish we could go back to Paris."

"You're not the only one S." She groaned before reaching for her phone.

"What are you doing?"

"Just checking…"

"You have got to be kidding me," Serena protested, "I thought you were not interested on what she does anymore."

There was a teasing smile on Blair's lips, "I'm not interested in her." She reassured her, "I'm interested in all of us. Everyone around us."

The blonde laughed disapprovingly and didn't mind protesting anymore.

Her friend focused on the phone she was holding and kept scrolling the posts, "You have got to be kidding me."

"What?" Serena sat up alarmingly, "B, what's wrong?"

"She is back."

"What? Who?"

"Jenny," Blair snarled, "Jenny Humphrey."

Her brown eyes were focused on the picture of the blonde stepping inside what used to be her home.

"She is probably just visiting her dad, don't worry about it."

"For her sake I hope that's true."

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><p>Yay done! drop a review if you wanna see Chucks epic reaction of being a daddy lol.<p>

Oh and the whole chuck-jenny moment didnt happen in this chap because i felt like it needed this in between.. but next chapter! Promise! just wait till the next chapter! a wholeee lot crazy coming ahead. Also Im kind tossing the idea of pairings still so... Im thinking Serena/Dan/Blair drama right now since the new episodes are so DAIR which I totz loove! Jenny/Chuck is gonna be there just because of the little Charlie you know. Parents need to bicker and have something there lol. Im also leaning on Blair/Chuck because they just need to be there too. Nate/Jenny is also gonna be seen but maybe in more depth later. So yeaaah its basically gonna be a mess of relationships and drama! but thats what we love dont we? ;)

Thanks for reading and supporting this story! keep reviewing :)


	4. Chapter 4

Soo this is gonna be one long chapter prepared!

Warning: this chapter contains a bit of vulgar language, swear words etc. Also the start has an italic part with more graphic content... and you can skip it if you cant take it. I felt like it belonged in this chapter so sorry if it made you upset.

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><p><em>"I don't wanna be alone." <em>

_"Neither do I."_

_His hands were roaming her body, burning her soft skin, purposely avoiding her most sensitive spots. Remorse creeps into his mind quicker than she thought it would, "Do you want me to stop?" She didn't reply, he leans forward and takes her lips by force. When she wriggles uncomfortably under his touch he puts his entire body's weight on her and uses his hand to hold her face, "Now is your last chance." He releases his hold on her giving her that final chance to leave. She sits up and breathes out heavily, staring out into the darkness. For a moment everything is still. The whole world stops. She knows what she wants right now. The smell of smoke wafts into her nose and she sucks the scent greedily into her lungs. She turns to him and he gives her the cigarette. She stares at the white stick and crushes the tip of the cigarette against the table. She is not going anywhere. With that he grabs her and pulls her down, rolling and pinning her. He wasn't waiting any longer. She didn't even have time to close her eyes when he finally goes for it. She is totally at his mercy as he thrusts against her at his pace, moving her entire body as he pleases. Every time he thrusts up into her, her eyes tear up as_ _her body tenses again from pain. The pain she feels, she deserves. He continues rougher, harder; causing her eyes to roll in back of her head and she gasps in surprise. The rush also surges through him and he gasps, collapsing on her, breathing heavily next to her face. _

Gasping, Jenny's eyes flew open and she sat up in her bed. She was shaking uncontrollably and her whole body was covered in sweat that felt scratchy and cold. She held her hands over her eyes and took a moment to calm down, "What the hell…" She muttered to herself and tried to forget what had replayed in her dreams. She looked at the clock and sighed. It was only 3am. She got out of the bed and tried not to wakeup Allison or Charlie.

Jenny clicked the light switch inside the bathroom and closed the door quietly. Her eyes were gritty and she tried to rub the sleep out of them without any luck. She decided to turn on the bath taps, the stiff Victorian bathtub giving up reluctantly under her weak wrists. The blonde cursed and sat on the edge of the bathtub waiting it to fill. She thought she was done thinking about course this memory had to resurface right now when she was supposed to come face to face with Chuck. For some reason she felt even dirtier, and so she poured a generous amount of lavender bath bubbles under the running tap until it began to fill the room with the fragrance. She took a deep breath and stripped out of her clothes. Soon Jenny found herself vigorously scrubbing her body till her skin turned red. Couple of tears escaped her eyes as everything was starting to feel overwhelming again. She didn't deal well under pressure. It was all she could think of- Her mistakes and what came out of them… Charlie. The only person she would dedicate her life to. Charlie was her world and the fact that she had to be willing to share him with someone scared her. 'Not that she even thought it would actually happen. This was Chuck Bass after all. He would probably laugh at her and ask her to leave- which she desperately hoped would happen.

Jenny pulled a towel decorated with the hotels initials from the towel rack and wrapped herself in it as she stepped out of the bath - she was feeling better already. At least it was over, she was clean, she was soaped and she was empty. The face that stared back at her from the bathroom mirror was tired. Tired of the lies and wanted to get this over with. She wanted to leave this damn place and never come back. Her freshly washed hair hung in grubby, ropy strands around her face.

"Jenny?"

She waited a moment to collect herself before opening the bathroom door.

Allison stared at the soaked girl and opened her arms, "it's okay. It's going to be okay hun."

Her face crumbled within seconds and she decided to cling to her mom like she had when she was a little girl after seeing a nightmare.

* * *

><p>Dan looked at the two untouched pieces of bacon and egg on his dads plate and wondered for a second before finally opening his mouth, "Dad, you alright?"<p>

Rufus closed his eyes and put his head in his hands. Truthfully he hadn't slept at all. There was a battle inside him every waking moment. He just wanted to storm out of the door and find him. Take out his anger at someone who in his opinion deserved it. On the other hand he wanted to sleep for a hundred years and forget about what was going on. He counted to fifty under his breath, and when he opened his eyes again, he was relieved that the image of his daughter with Chuck Bass was gone. He could see the curious face of Dan in front of him, "It's just a headache. I'm sure it will pass soon."

"If you say so," He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, sipping at his orange juice, "Did Serena come home last night?"

Rufus stared at the breakfast table ignoring his son's voice.

"Dad?"

"Huh?" He couldn't bring himself to look at him and kept his gaze locked on the table. For a moment he hoped that they all just left him alone.

"Did Serena come home last night?" He repeated his question with mild annoyance.

"No I don't think so," His dad said as clearly as he could manage, "I'm not sure Dan." Rufus finished his black coffee in a hurry, got up and simply walked off the room without saying another word.

Dan sat there dumbfounded by his behavior. His dad was a morning person. He was the one who loved being able to use the bathroom without it being a complete chaos and snatch a look at the newspaper before the comics were stolen.

"Morning," Lily walked into the kitchen and immediately poured herself coffee. The bitter liquid hit her stomach and made her feel sick, but at least she could rely on the caffeine. Hopefully it would wake her properly since worrying about Rufus and Jenny kept her awake through the whole night. She turned to look at Dan and smiled weakly, "Did you sleep okay?"

"Yeah..." He could see that something had happened. Dan wasn't stupid enough to miss the dark circles around Lily's and Rufus's eyes, "Seems like I was the only one who did."

She tried to ignore his gaze and replied coolly, "Just one of those nights." Lily didn't like lying, but she knew this was necessary.

"If you say so," Dan repeated and chuckled, "By the way did you see Serena come home last night?" Sure he knew both Rufus and Lily were lying and hiding something, but right now he couldn't wrap his brains around new problems when he seemed to saddle himself with new problems and conflicts every day, "I'm just asking to know… She might have said something and I'm just-"

"Dan," Lily interrupted his blabbering, "She texted me that she was staying with Blair. Girls night."

"Oh.."

She looked at the young man and couldn't help but to smile. She once was young and knew that complicated relationships were part of being young and the drama came with it. Even while thinking about good memories, it felt like the calm before the storm.

This day wouldn't end well.

* * *

><p>Jenny packed her essentials in a black leather bag and finally pulled her hair into a messy ponytail. Clearly she was starting to get nervous, her stomach was clenching and she felt like throwing up her guts.<p>

"Are you sure about this?" Allison questioned sincerely as she watched her daughter walk back and forth, fidget with everything she touched.

Her body trembled with the emotions racing through her, "Soon as I deal with everything- the sooner we are out here and can go home." Taking a deep breath she went to Charlie's crib and picked up him up, "I'm doing this for my baby boy." She kissed the boys cheek and smiled at him.

"Did you tell Rufus and Lily about your plans?"

"I figured I could tell them afterwards," she said softly, keeping her eyes on the child as she cradled him to her chest, "I don't want dad to worry about me, there is no reason."

The young grandmothers posture stiffened, "Just remember to talk to him about child support."

The girl twisted her lips into an irritated line, "Mom, I'm not going to talk about this again. I don't want anything from him. I'm telling him the truth and that's it," She wasn't sure if she believed her own words, but continued, "I want closure and soon as he knows- we are free from all of this, all of the lies and the hiding. I don't care for his money or his opinions about my child. Just because he was there that night..." She swallowed nervously, "it doesn't make him a dad or make him responsible for him."

"Then we need to start discussing about a job or something else-"

"I'll figure it out later!" Jenny gave her an intent stare, "I want to get through this day. Don't make it any harder for me please."

Allison could almost feel the hostility radiating from her daughter, "I didn't mean to upset you... but Jenny, you need to realize it's not going to be easy and sometimes things don't work out the way you want them to."

"Thanks for being supportive mom," The teenager sighed, but decided to deal with her later and turned her attention to the person who deserved it. Jenny kissed protectively Charlie's head and bounced him on her arms, "Don't worry baby. We are going home soon."

Allison watched Jenny anxiously knowing that it wouldn't be that simple.

* * *

><p>"What's with the frown?"<p>

She gave him a look, but returned to her gin martini in silence.

Nate eyed Blair, her posture was someway different, her shoulders were softer and she wasn't holding herself in her usual tense and protective manner. In fact everything about her seemed relaxed except for that fiery hardness her eyes still possessed.

"Did Serena call you to babysit?"

He slipped on the bar stool next to her.

"Since when does Blair Waldorf need babysitting?" Nate commented, squirming a little as usual under the brunette's intense gaze, "She may have mentioned that you were here alone and maybe wanted someone to talk to."

"Well for one, I'm fine…' She paused for a moment not wishing to provoke any pity, "I'm celebrating actually."

"Celebrating?"

"Life," Blair stated slightly upset, it was taking all her strength just to keep her mask intact when all she wanted to do was lay her head down on the counter and burst into tears, "Celebrating life."

"You shouldn't let him do this to you anymore," He had known her long enough to tell what was on her mind, "I'm tired of everybody getting screwed over by him."

"Literally." She stated, letting out a muffled laugh.

"You know what I mean," Nate reasoned, "It's better this way. He has been out of our lives for a good time now and think how much easier it has been. Sure I admit I have my moments and miss his sorry ass," He nudged her playfully, "Don't tell anyone I said that."

Blair smiled slightly. She knew it hadn't been easy on him either. It wasn't exactly the first time Chuck had hurt Nate. Ever since younger they had been close friends, best friends. The difference between them was the fact that the other one was faithful to their friendship and the other was not. Chuck had a colorful past of lying, cheating and hurting people's feelings, but Nate wasn't an angel either. They all had made mistakes, but unlike the rest of them Chuck didn't seem learn from them. They all had their issues too and whenever Chuck acted out during their relationship she had blamed it on his childhood and eventually forgave his antics because she felt like she needed to feel sorry for him, sort of. Blair loved to hate him and hated to love him. He just had this grip on her that she couldn't understand.

"I'm not upset because of Chuck." She said, exhaling, too exhausted to argue.

Nate leaned closer to Blair, and she didn't move, maintaining eye contact.

"What is it?" He asked tentatively, his eyes narrowing as he watched the play of emotions dance across her features.

"Every time I know she is in town it all comes back," She groaned aloud, grasping her glass and throwing back another gulp, "I'm done with him and she comes back to remind me of what she took from me."

Wide-eyed, Nate swallowed, "Jenny is back?"

"Supposedly just visiting her family," Blair spat, "It doesn't really warm my heart that she can come and go as she pleases while I look like an idiot in everybody's eyes."

"Blair you're not an idiot and no one thinks of you like that," He stated, trying to ignore the remark, "Besides it doesn't matter. Let both of them live their lives right? Meanwhile we keep moving on like we have for the past months."

"You don't really believe that do you?" She argued distastefully, "We have been doing nothing for the past six months or so. Our lives are as boring as Dan Humphrey's wardrobe, and that Nathaniel is a sign of the world coming to an end."

Nate's eyebrows rose, "So what you're saying is that, being cheated on by your jackass boyfriend is much better than moving on with your life and actually accomplishing something?" Blair wanted to interrupt him, but he went on, "And making into Gossip Girls post's doesn't qualify as an accomplishment."

Blair blinked down at him, seemingly having difficulty as to whether to be her usual snide self or to allow him some mercy, "Doesn't change the fact that we are stuck. Both of us."

He ran a hand through his unkempt, hair and sighed. He knew what and who she was referring to this time- '_Stop,'_ he commanded himself, trying not to think about the past and leaned against the counter, speechless.

The fierce brunette knew that she had hit a soft spot.

She knew he felt the exactly same way as she did hours ago when she had seen the innocent face of Jenny Humphrey flash before her eyes.

"You need a drink."

* * *

><p>Chuck sat on the sofa inside his penthouse suite and rubbed his temples exhaustedly. He had moved after Nate packed his last belongings and told him to basically piss off. Ironically, he chose to move into the upstairs penthouse suite and it was a good match since his life was already empty and void. He looked around the room, thinking of a distraction for himself. He pulled out his phone, searching around for a second before finding it and checked his messages. Obviously there were none. Suddenly, there was a loud knock at the door and the man just assumed it was room service since there was nobody he was expecting. Lazily, he walked up to the door and opened it without much thinking.<p>

He didn't look shocked, or at least didn't show it to the person staring back at him.

"Are you going to invite me in or are we going to just stand here?"

Chuck didn't know what she was playing at, but after a moment of thinking stepped out her way and walked back into the room. She followed him and closed the door.

"Well this brings back a lot of memories," He turned around and snapped his gaze at her, "You, me and a hotel room."

Jenny hadn't remembered how obnoxious he could be and shook her head. Ten minutes ago she had been outside of the same door shaking in her leather boots. This was supposed to be the most nerve-racking experience of her life and for some reason she didn't feel intimidated at all by him.

"What do you want?" His voice turned serious.

She stared back, not sure how to say it, "Nothing from you."

He didn't give her the chance to go further into detail and snapped back, "Shouldn't you be at the trailer park with the rest of your family?"

His tone was still harsh and intense.

"If by trailer park you mean Hudson, true I should," She muttered and continued, "Something happened- and unfortunately I have to deal with it now."

"I don't see how does that add up with you being here," Chuck sneered, eyes darkening maliciously, "You want my forgiveness?"

The blonde's glare darkened, "I wouldn't travel back here just to drop on my knees and beg for your approval Chuck."

"That's funny," He drawled, "I remember you exactly like that."

"You're disgusting."

"Did you come here to just insult me or is there a point to this visit?" He was starting to get anxious, his eyes unfocused and wild.

The confident girl had promised herself she wouldn't let him get to her and she would just get to the point without allowing it to turn into a shouting match.

She didn't know exactly how to tell him, but then the words just came out of her mouth, "I got pregnant after _that_ night," The blonde stared at him with a hard glint through her glossy eyes, "You have a son Chuck."

Chuck's face remained the same and he just seemed to stand there. No reaction was coming out of him. He then without a warning, walked calmly over to the table across the room and took a small rather thin book out of the first drawer.

She watched him curiously as Chuck sat down on the sofa and took a pen out of his pocket, "How much?"

Jenny raised her eyebrows, confused, "What?"

"Money," He drawled slowly before slithering his tongue over his lips and making a smacking sound before snapping it back into his mouth, "How much do you want?"

"I'm not taking your money." She announced in a shaky voice.

He didn't look happy, "I wasn't asking," his tone dripping with dark sarcasm, "How much?"

"I don't want your money Chuck!"

Chuck raised his gaze and spat "Fifty thousand? What? Just tell me!"

No." Jenny whispered in a firm, articulate voice, her eyes never wavering from him.

He then got up and took a step closer to her, "Just take the fucking money and leave."

From beneath her lashes, she sent him a challenging stare, "You don't even care to know what's his name? You don't care how old he is now or-"

"I don't care if he was half monkey when he was born! Just take the money and leave!"

Jenny couldn't comprehend his reaction, "How are you even sure that I'm not lying?"

Chuck didn't answer her, instead he pushed the check he had written on her hands, "What part of _I don't care_ do you not understand?"

She looked at the check in her hands and then looked back at him, "I didn't know you were this pathetic," The blonde shredded the check into pieces right in front of his eyes, "I only came here to tell you the truth. I didn't tell you about him because I wanted your money, I told you because I felt like you had the right to know! But apparently I was wrong. You don't deserve anything from me."

He didn't even flinch. Seconds later his left hand, strong enough to bend steel, grabbed her arm, "Then leave," His stance was rigid and tense, "Do us a favor and jump in the fucking Hudson river- frankly nobody would give a shit."

"You're hurting me." Her voice was utterly calm, even though it felt like her bones were creaking under the pressure.

Chuck pushed her towards the door and opened it, shoving her outside and slamming the door behind her. Jenny stood outside the door and rubbed the arm he had grabbed, not understanding his reaction at all. She should have felt relieved that he didn't want anything to do with Charlie or to know about him. Instead surprisingly she felt angry and upset that he didn't care. He had just disowned his son without much thinking about it and it enraged her. This was her little boy. He deserved more than this.

She turned to face the door and leaned in closer. Jenny knew she would end up regretting this, "His name is Charlie Daniel Humphrey and he is almost seven months old." She said loudly enough for him to hear through the door, "He learned to crawl about a month ago and has been moving around like a wild child ever since. He also sits up without my support these days and he babbles a lot-" Jenny choked up, her lips quivering, "And he is the most important thing in this world to me Chuck." She took a deep breath and continued, "He has your name because I need you to know that there is another person in this world with your blood and your name and he is going to be an amazing person- He is going to accomplish good things and be good to people unlike you. One day you're going to read his name from somewhere and you will know that he is everything that you always wanted to be," Her emotions got the best of her, "I'm going to make sure he will never be as heartless and cold as you Chuck!"

Jenny tried to listen any movement coming from the room, but it was still silent, "I know that I'm going to regret this, but I'm leaving in two days and after that I won't be coming back here with Charlie. If you want to see him and tell him goodbye I'm fine with it."

She wiped the tear from the corner of her eye and knew she had done the right thing.

She had tried for Charlie and if he didn't want to approach the subject ever again, so be it.

At least she had tried.

* * *

><p>Thanks for reading and leaving many reviews on the previous chapter :)<p>

Keep em coming they really inspire me!

Thanks for the support :)


	5. Chapter 5

"You want to talk about it?"

Jenny sat on the edge of the bed, near the crib. She was leaning over it and watched her sleeping son. Her mother's question hang in the air for several long minutes. She was too busy eyeing the sleeping angel. He was making sounds while sucking his pacifier and shaking his little chubby fists in the air. She smiled at the sight and tried to- tried desperately to forget what had happened with Chuck. She should have been happy right now. She had told him and he wanted nothing from them. She could be going back to Hudson tomorrow if she wanted and move on with her life. There she was, supposed to be relieved, but instead Jenny felt more trapped than she had felt in a long time. Facing the reality with Chuck had made her feel worthless again and made her doubt herself as a mother.

Allison sat next to her daughter and smiled, "He is starting to act more and more like you every day," Her voice was almost a whisper, "He even smiles like you."

Her mother's nice words didn't seem to work as encouragement. A tear rolled down her cheek," I don't know if I can do this after all."

"What are you talking about?" Allison sounded alarmed.

The fragile blonde tore her broken eyes from the baby, "What if my love isn't enough? What if I'm not enough?"

Her mother's eyes dart quickly to Jenny. She doesn't watch her for too long because the sight in front of her is truly breaking her heart, "Jenny…" She wiped her tears with her thumb, "I don't know what he said, but you can't listen to him. Remember what I told you? Do not let these people get to you. You are everything that little boy needs and there is nothing more you could give to him." Allison continued her voice careful and low, sounding both comforting and scared for her at the same time, "You and Charlie share a special bond that didn't break when the umbilical cord was cut. You are a wonderful mother and whatever Chuck Bass said won't change that."

Jenny looked at the ceiling and wiped rest of the tears away forcefully, "I feel like I'm back to square one. Everything I've gone through is nothing compared to what's to come. I can't protect him and he deserves better than that. It's never going to end."

"Don't think like that."

"I don't know what to think anymore mom," She says slowly, enunciating carefully, "I just know I need to get out of here as fast as possible."

Allison chewed on her lip, wanting to say something, but stopping herself with the firm bite of her teeth, "You know we need to get going soon."

Jenny couldn't agree with clocks because they always seemed to be running ahead, ticking away faster than her heart could keep up. She still had to go and see her brother. Tell him about everything and it was the last thing she wanted to do. Her thoughts were cut short as the sound of crying emerged. Jenny bended down over the bassinet to see Charlie's tiny face scrunched and red as he continued to cry. She reached out for him, carefully pulling the baby against her shoulder.

"Shh, shh. Come on, little man." The girl whispered, patting Charlie's back.

"I think he is done with his nap." Her mom smiled fondly, "I'm gonna pack his bag and we will be good to go."

Jenny looked at her with a hesitant expression, as if she was unsure about what to do next. She was feeling like a ball of nerves by all that was taking place, still torn about what happened with Chuck.

"I guess, if we _really_ have to." She nodded, lost in the memory.

Allison was silent for a moment, but then her face turned serious, "You know you do."

* * *

><p>"What are we waiting for?" Serena sighed and grunted in frustration, "I have plans."<p>

"Your friends can wait Serena," Lily answered with irritation, keeping her eyes on Rufus who was looking out of the window, "This is a family matter and it won't take long anymore."

"Can't you just tell us already?" Dan joined in the complaining.

"Mom said it would take a sec," Serena's little brother rolled his eyes before settling his gaze back on the book he was reading, "You two need to relax."

"Are we waiting for someone?"

The question his son asked caused Rufus to turn away from the window and focus his eyes on the whole family, "Yeah we are." The way he said it made it sound like it was nobody important. Maybe he just didn't have the strength to think about other people when he felt so anxious and angry at the same time himself.

"Who? What's going on mom?" Serena asked alarmingly, "This is ridiculous! You guys can't expect us to just sit here and wait."

"Serena." Lily snapped at her, but the doorbell rang, interrupting their conversation.

Rufus looked back at Lily and she knew he was not ready for this.

Soon as everybody in the family knew it would be official and not a secret to them or the town they lived in.

He was restless. All day his feelings had spiraled out of control from bored to sullen to a frenzied agitation.

Lily went to the door and opened it for the guests they were expecting. The whole house was silent.

Dan, Serena and Eric stayed still, but kept eyeing into the hallway trying to guess who would walk into the living room.

Everyone looked shocked, like they couldn't believe it. Serena's jaw dropped while Dan and Eric remained speechless. Jenny stood right in front of them with Charlie. She looked down at her son, slumped warmly in her arms almost as if she wanted to avoid other people's gazes and only look at the eyes that made her feel a bit calm. Allison was behind her daughter arms folded against her chest, like she was trying to hold herself together. She actually hadn't seen her son in a long time and coming back to see him like this wasn't exactly planned.

"Jenny? Mom?" Dan finally managed to mumble out in confusion, "What's going on?" His eyes then find the baby who is being calmly rocked in his sisters arms, "Wha-What? Whose baby is that?"

"Could someone explain what's going on?" Eric questioned in a surprisingly stern voice and finally tossed his book aside.

"I didn't mean to hide this and I hope you all will understand," Jenny locked eyes with her brother and went on, "I can't tell you how much it hurt me-"

He looked anxious and she felt like all hope was gone. She could tell how annoyed he was, "What are you trying to say Jenny?"

The blonde looked back at Rufus who stood in the background with Lily and Allison. He nodded at her as encouragement even though he felt like he was fighting with understanding this himself.

"He is mine," She announced and the whole room was dead quiet, "I want you all to meet Charlie Daniel Humphrey- My son."

"WHAT?" Serena and Eric both exclaimed in shock. Her brother remained still, but looked as horrified, maybe even more horrified.

"But- but- you can't have a baby!" Eric said breathlessly, "You would have told me- You wouldn't have lied… This is a joke right? Right!"

Dan shook his head, closed his eyes, and pressed his face against his arm.

"Dan…" Jenny could have cried her eyes out because she felt so relived. He looked at her, but it was painful to see her innocent little sister like this. The whole sight in front of him seemed comical. She was still tiny and seeing her holding a toddler was just plain ridiculous, "I didn't want this okay? You know how messed up everything was and I couldn't.. I couldn't deal with this and these people yet. I needed time to figure things out." Then she turned to look at Eric, "I didn't mean to hurt anybody. I wanted to tell all of you, but I couldn't because…" The girl felt tears burning in her eyes, "I couldn't because I didn't know if I would keep him and frankly I didn't know what I was doing."

"What am I supposed to say?" Dan finally opened her mouth and sounded astonished. He then looked at the grownups in the room, "You all knew?"

"We didn't," Uneasy Rufus answered his son, "We found out yesterday."

Allison tried to avoid Dan and what was about to come.

"Mom?"

"It was my decision okay?" Jenny continued to watch her brother with careful, but sure eyes, "Don't blame her. I asked her not to tell and I don't know what I would have done without her."

"You lied to me! You lied to us! I don't know what the worst part about this is!" He exhaled slowly, the words just coming out his mouth, "The fact that you lied to us for God knows how long or the fact that you had _his_ baby! He tried to take advantage of you," His innuendo fell flat on her ears, but still shook her to the core. She had never seen him so mad and hurt, "Remember that huh? And now you have his baby! What do you expect me to say Jenny!"

Charlie immediately started to fuss in her arms and soon broke into full tears. The little boy was scared of the new faces and the yelling around him.

"Don't yell in front of him!" Jenny responded loudly.

Seeing how everything was spiraling out of control, Lily stepped between the heated argument, "I'll take him."

Jenny looked at her with worried eyes. She held Charlie tightly as she could.

"It's okay." She reassured her and waited her to hand him over.

On impulse, she leaned down to kiss her baby boy, a light touch on his smooth cheek, but he howled in indignation. Jenny handed him over to Lily, "He isn't used to strangers… If he-"

"Don't worry I will come and get you if he doesn't calm down."

She nodded back and watched the woman carry her son out of the living room that had turned into a war zone. Meanwhile Dan couldn't help thinking of all the things he'd missed, all the things he still missed, all the things they'd never do together again.

"Chuck is the dad then?" Serena asked in denial. She had watched it all go down in front of her eyes, but couldn't comprehend what she had actually witnessed. She had been too busy eyeing Dan and hoping that he would be able to keep himself together.

Jenny nodded ashamed, not able to say it to their faces.

"Why would you name him after..." Eric pondered aloud.

"I-I it isnt like that," She explained, "I didn't name Charlie because of Chuck. Well I did in a way, but I didn't do it to respect him. It's hard to explain."

"Does he know?" This time it was her father, "Did you tell him?"

"Yeah… A few hours ago actually," She laughed, short but sweet, and shook her head, a gesture Rufus still remembered she did when she was nervous, "He doesn't care."

Soon as the words leave Jenny's mouth he just takes off.

"DAD!" The blonde immediately knew what was going to happen. In panic she turned to her brother, "Please help me get him before he does something he will regret."

"Let's go," He sighed, impatient, "I have a few words I'd like to say to him as well."

"I'll go with you."

"No," Dan turned to Serena, "I don't want you to get mixed up with what is going to happen." His words were sincere for sure, "Just don't tell Blair yet… We don't need her meddling into this."

She didn't even have time to react when Dan stormed out of the living room with Jenny on his tail, but he stopped to look at his mother for a cold long second, "When I'm back- we need to talk."

Allison watched concerned as both of her children went after Rufus. Eric and Serena stood there dumbfounded by everything that had happened.

* * *

><p>Chuck walked around the room with a cigarette in left hand, drink in right, and his breath strong with both. The sickening thought of him actually having a child was still too strong in his mind. He knew what kind of people his family was full off; plain assholes, people who were mentally incapable to show love, miserable business men- well let's face it, they were all screwed up. Chuck growled to himself and looked like a caged tiger, pacing back and forth in the room while drinking his drink and tossing away the cigarette. He didn't know what to think or do at this point. For a moment he wished he hadn't even opened the door and let her in. Another fucking problem brought into his life.<p>

Just then his door was being banged again. He looked at the door in annoyance and waited for the banging to stop, but it didn't. Finally losing his cool, he put his drink on the nearby table and opened the door with a huff, "What now-" Chuck's yell was cut off by a fist to the jaw. He didn't even catch a flash of the person behind the door when the first fist hit him. It was a hard blow that caught him off guard and put him down on the floor with a loud thud. He was gasping, choking as he tried to regain the breath that had been stolen from him. While he tried to regain his breath Rufus was over him, "You son of a bitch!" He pulled Chuck by his shirt collar, punched him again and again.

"Dad!" Jenny's voice came from the hallway. She stopped by the door in shock before launching to grab his father's shirt, trying to get him to stop, "stop it! Stop! Dad!"

Dan ran into the situation, also pulling Rufus off Chuck. With a miracle he was actually able to pull him away, "It's not worth it!"

"I'm not done!"

Chuck angrily pushed himself up off the floor. He savagely wiped away the red blood from his bloody lip with the sleeve on his arm, "You're all fucking crazy!" He turned around getting support from the wall, "Fuck-" He touched his forehead and winced in pain. He had a deep cut above his right eyebrow and his bottom lip was completely busted.

"Chuck." Jenny reached out for him, but he backed away motioning her to stop.

"Get out and take your family with you before I ask someone else to do that." His voice was harsh and he continued to reach for the whisky he had placed on the table earlier. With pathetic shaking hands he tossed the liquid down his throat and cursed some more under his breath.

"Don't talk to her like that!" Dan still held onto Rufus who was breathing in and out heavily, "After everything you have done-"

"I told you to leave!" Chuck spit out the blood from his mouth on to the carpet.

"We are not going anywhere before you apologize to her for everything." Rufus managed to growl out.

"You want me to apologize?" He spat and tried to take a threatening step closer to Rufus, but Jenny stepped in front of him.

"Stop! Both of you!"

Chuck looked at the family in front of him and laughed mockingly, "You're all trash and you know what? Maybe I should actually look into this," He snorted to himself, "I wouldn't want my _son_ to grow up with people like you and have a pathetic excuse of a mother like you. He would probably be much better off with me in here."

Her face crumbled. His harsh words hitting home, "I hate you!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, "I fucking hate you Chuck!"

"Get in line!" Chuck was being his serious, cold self even with blood smeared on his face, "Stop acting like a little bitch and go home!"

Curse words were flying and Rufus was ready to lunge at him again, but the hotel security stopped anything from happening. Pulling Rufus into the hallway as well as Dan. They also took Jenny by her shoulders and pulled her out of the suite.

"Sir, are you alright?" One of the men who was keeping Rufus under control asked.

"Just throw them out," Chuck looked down at them idly with a mockingly proud look on his face, "And Rufus?"

He looked up from the floor and met Chuck's gaze.

"Have fun looking at my face for the rest of your life on your grandchild."

Chuck slammed the door shut and shook his head. He needed another drink.

* * *

><p>Well that was dramatic lol :D<p>

sorry this chapter took longer because i didnt know quite how approach it...

anyways hope you liked and again thanks for the nice comments!


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry for not updatin (AGAIN) I didn't have internet because my stupid **ex** boyfriend fcked up my life and I had to move out and get a new apartment etc and I literally couldnt afford anything for over a month! -_- Atleast I had time to write a good chapter and really think where Im going with this story :)

* * *

><p>The little guy seemed to be a sucker for music. Lily walked the hall and bounced Charlie in her arms soothingly. Soon as she had started humming he had calmed down. There he was half asleep as she hummed an old lullaby. She didn't even remember when was the last time she had cradled a baby in her arms like this.<p>

"You know," A soft, slightly rough voice said from the other end of the hallway, "I think he likes you better than me." Allison stepped closer and smiled, "I've never seen this jitterbug so relaxed in someone else's arms than his mommy's."

Lily smiled back, "Well I have to admit this is the first time I'm holding a baby who is actually enjoying being held. Serena and Eric were never really easy ones."

Allison peered down her grandchild, "It's a shame."

"What is?"

"He is stuck in the middle of two completely different worlds," She said softly, but it sounded like her throat was aching, thirsty and raw, "I just hope whatever happens… Charlie isn't paying for it."

"You haven't heard anything back yet?" She whispered, her brow furrowed in concern. Lily knew Rufus had been agitated for the last twenty four hours or so and knowing he would do anything to protect his family scared her this time.

She hadn't had time to really think about all of this. She didn't know what to think about Charles or Jenny at this point. She understood the girl must have felt lost and alone if she couldn't even turn to her family, but it broke her heart because she knew Rufus's whole world had been turned upside down. Lily tried to understand her decision to hide little Charlie, but it was still hard.

Allison sighed heavily, "Nothing yet, but I know Dan wouldn't let Rufus do anything stupid. I'm sure they stopped him before he even had the chance to find him. I bet they are sitting at a waffle house right now and talking things through."

Lily looked into her eyes and prayed that she was right. Something just told her that it wouldn't be that easy.

"You three are still leaving tomorrow?"

"Well we need to because I have work and Jenny seems to be more than ready to go back home," She bit her lip and looked slightly bothered, "I haven't seen her this upset in a long time and what I saw today scared me. I do not want my daughter to fall back into feeling like nothing."

Lily noticed the corners of Allison's mouth twitch down, "You think going back now is the best solution? I don't mean to step on your toes, but adjusting to something like this is going to take time and I feel like if you go back now it's disrespectful to Rufus and Dan." She felt a bit idiotic asking her a question like that, but she had to speak out.

"I know this isn't a situation anyone of us imagined we would end up in," The mother defended her daughters decisions, "And as much as I know this hurts your family I need to think about mine." Allison smiled, proud and gracious, as she looked at Charlie.

The woman holding the little boy looked down into Charlie's warm, squinty eyes. He did seem happy to see his Allison again, pounding his foot against Lily's stomach like a peppy drum beat. She tried to concentrate on the weight of Charlie in her arms while wrinkling her brow as if she didn't understand what she had been told.

"Allison," Lily was self-assured and confident. "I think the difference between us is that you can't see how I consider all of you my family especially this little guy and Jenny. I could never treat my family the way you do. Going back to Hudson and sweeping everything under the rug is a huge mistake."

"That's your opinion."

"True," She agreed, "But I know that if Jenny leaves now- she won't have a healthy relationship with her brother or father in the future and that will also hurt Charlie."

Allison glared at Lily remembering why she hadn't liked her in the first place. This would be one long day.

* * *

><p>It didn't take long for all three of them to storm inside. Serena rushed to ask Dan if he was okay, but he was too busy eyeing Jenny. It had not been a warm look, more like glare of denial.<p>

"Oh my god what happened!" Lily gasped as she saw Rufus's bloody hand.

He shrugged, "It's nothing really."

"You should see Chuck." Dan quipped casually.

Jenny couldn't speak, words failed her. She stood there stiff as a stick hugging herself.

"Jenny," Allison approached her, "Are you alright hun?"

She snapped her gaze back up, eyes glossy, "Where is he?"

"Right here." Eric walked out with the baby and handed him to his mother.

The blonde took him almost alarmingly fast, hugging him and kissed his forehead tenderly. She held her forehead against Charlie's for a moment to collect herself and kissed him again, "I need…" Her voice broke down, "I need a moment." Jenny hurried away to her old room and soon everybody else heard the door being slammed.

"What did you do?" Allison turned to Rufus. She looked like she was getting angry and upset all over again.

* * *

><p>"You shouldn't have tried to reason with him." Dan looked directly at his sister who had finally returned from the safety of her own room. It seemed like he had to squeeze the words out from some place deep inside him. He was not happy about what he had seen.<p>

Jenny held her baby and paced around nervously, but Charlie didn't seem to mind, curled up against her chest, soft and warm, snuffling quietly now that he's being held someone he felt safe with. She on the other hand looked exhausted.

All of the family was around the kitchen table, others standing like statues and others sitting down. Lily was cleaning up Rufus's hand which had caused a lot of damage that evening.

"You okay?" He asked quietly.

"No." Jenny replied, softer than she realized when she was indeed in full panic mode, "I can't believe you would do that when I told you it would do no good." She just stared at him, those blue eyes not even flinching.

"Jenny this is scaring and confusing the bejesus out of everyone, how do you think I should have reacted?" Rufus scolded. His daughter looked at her feet again and felt like she could drown in her self-pity. She looked up to Eric for help, but he could only look on with slight understanding.

"Look, I need to think, could everyone please stop riding my ass?" She asked irritably, "I have enough on my plate and you guys going Rambo doesn't exactly help!"

Dan snorted from his seat, "Everybody knows he got what he deserved." This conversation was pointless. What he'd wanted was not the few words they'd just managed to exchange. He just wanted his sister back.

Jenny whirled around and he just sort of grimaced at her. She glared and then blinked, he was trying to make her feel uncomfortable, "Maybe he did, but Charlie didn't," She told everyone, with an authority that made them cringe, "If Chuck takes him from me- now that he has a very good reason I'm never speaking to you two again."

Her father's eyes bulged at the angry words being heard, "He won't do that."

"How do you know!"

"He was bluffing Jenny," Dan agreed with Rufus," He wanted to get you riled up and apparently he managed to do that."

"Yeah maybe he did because unlike you I have the enough sense in my head not to take this lightly," His sister yelled, anger showing on her face, "This is my son! This is my whole life you two are playing with!"

"Maybe this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't opened your legs to him in the first place!"

"Dan!" Rufus snapped at him.

Jenny didn't want to believe what she had heard and managed to bit back an angry retort, "Nice to know what my family really thinks about me," She muttered sarcastically and laughed lightly, trying to hide her heart break, "This was a mistake. All of this!"

She picked up the baby bag from the floor and tossed it on the other shoulder before walking off from the kitchen.

"Jenny!" Allison hurried after her, "Where are you going?"

She quickened her pace even though she had Charlie on her other arm and quipped back loudly, "I'm going to fix this."

The door closed and everyone gazed at each other, not knowing what to think or say.

Eric broke the silence, "That was a low blow," He looked straight at Dan, "She didn't deserve that."

Dan stared back, trying to look sorry, but he couldn't.

* * *

><p>She had rushed outside of the building, but stopped as realization hit her.<p>

Jenny Humphrey was standing outside one of the busiest streets of Upper East Side with a baby in her arms, her son; her world. She was like a piece of meat surrounded by piranhas. It was all out in the open officially and everybody would know her darkest secret. Uncomfortable by her surroundings her heart thumped so loudly she thought she could hear it.

Jenny felt the adrenaline swooshing through her veins and it was like it was burning a hole in her chest. For a second she thought about turning around and going back inside, but the little whimper she heard changed everything. Her eyes drop to meet his and all the hesitation in her mind disappears. She smiled at him and stepped further in the streets. It was like everything was moving slowly as she walked. A few familiar faces walked towards her, a girl who she had definitely seen at their school and a few ladies she must have seen at some events. The gazes everybody casted towards her and the boy with clear resemblance to his daddy were curious.

She knew it was not just in her head. This is what Upper East Side is all about. The Gossip. Then it happens- the click of a button.

The voice somewhere distant she knew too well. Her world tipped sideways as she was swept into the swirling sickness of memories. Her picture is being taken and there is nothing she can do about it. Jenny shielded Charlie's face and her lips tightened in anger all of a sudden. The thought of these people seeing her son and posting his face on the internet for their amusement sickened her. Her pace quickened and she dodged the people coming from the other direction of the street.

She continued walking, but really didn't know where she would end up.

* * *

><p><em>A surge of nausea swelled over her, and she swallowed the urge to vomit, unsuccessfully; she just barely got the toilet seat up before she was on her knees and her stomach ached as she threw up what was left on her stomach from last night. Her hair hung in the air as she continued to vomit violently. Finally after getting everything out that there possibly was she backed away from the toilet. <em>

"_Jenny? Everything alright in there?"_

_She wiped her mouth with her hand and grimaced as the taste of vomit was still strong. She put a hand up to her forehead to help clear her mind and sighed in exhaustion, "I'm fine mom."_

"_Are you sure?" Her mom kept insisting, "I'm off to work- just call me if you need anything from the store. Remember to rest! Oh and drink lots of water hun!"_

"_I'm fine!" Jenny yelled back, agitated, "Just go already!"_

_She heard how Allison backed away and waited the outdoor to be closed before letting out a shaky gasp. She was still on the bathroom floor, against the wall and didn't know what to do. _

_It was just the flu. Yes, the flu. That's all. Just the flu, nothing more, nothing less. _

_Almost five weeks had passed from the day she had left her dad and the comforts of the Upper East Side. She had already forgotten about the whole fiasco she left behind, but the stomach pains that were so nauseating she couldn't swallow down anymore always brought back a strange feeling. _

_It was the flu. A nasty flu._

_The words were convincing enough in her mind and she decided to get up from the floor. She couldn't stand the miserable person looking back from the mirror and her tired eyes didn't help with this. Jenny opened the medicine cabinet above the sink and was reaching for her tooth brush when her eyes widened in horror. Her heart must have literally stopped for a second. It was a simple opened box of tampons that caught her eye. In a moment of panic she closed the door of the cabinet. It was like she couldn't- her mind just went blank. _

_Many thoughts raced through her head right there and then. When was the last time she had even gotten her period? She thought back and it had been forever ago. It felt like she was being smacked across the face as reality hit her. _

_She couldn't… She was definitely not…. _

_No way. No fucking way._

_Jenny felt like she was getting sick again- it was not the same kind of sickness, this was pure disgust and the idea of even carrying a part of Chuck Bass inside her made her want to hurl even more. _

_It took her fifteen minutes to reach the closest store. She rushed to the health section and ignored all the feelings she had at the moment. She could have broken down anytime, but kept herself together as she took a couple more steps towards the front of the store. Jenny grabbed the first four pregnancy tests from the shelf and rushed to the nearest cash register. She could feel the cashiers eyes on her and it made her even more nervous. Soon as it was possible she took off with the tests at the bottom of her bag. _

_She had never imagined that she would find herself in this position. Jenny stood there in shock, she kept looking at the pregnancy test in denial._

**_Positive._**

_Maybe it was faulty. Maybe this one didn't work. Her vision went blurry as tears flooded her eyes._

_She did another one._

**_Positive._**

"_Oh my God. Oh my God." She choked out in a hysteric voice, and then gasped air in her lungs again. It felt like she was choking in her gasps, she could hardly steady her breathing. Tears were running down her face._

_She couldn't understand this and it took her another twenty minutes to do another one. _

**_Positive._**

_She was getting tired of seeing the plus sign... positive sign... pregnant sign. Her panicked whimpers didn't stop as she gathered herself to do the last one she had. She still didn't believe it. She wouldn't believe it until the last test had been done. _

**_Positive._**

_This was the moment when Jenny allowed herself to collapse on the floor. The plastic sticks were scattered across the bathroom. She was against the wall, clutching her knees tightly and whimpering loudly. "O-oh god!" she screamed and banged her fist against the tiles like a child throwing a tantrum. It was too much. Everything. It all flashed in her mind-_

_How she met him at the Kiss on the Lips party. _

_How he had tried to force himself on her on that same night._

_How she got him back by tricking him at the masquerade ball._

_How she gave up everything to defeat Blair, but still many times her plans backfired and she had to pay the higher price._

_How she fell in love with Nate, but their romance ended with a bad note as she couldn't hold it together with him._

_How her life changed as many people came into her life. _

_How her relationship with her dad and Dan crumbled._

_How she lost herself completely._

_How she was mad at her dad for forcing her to leave_

_How she ran out and found him instead of Nate that night._

_She stood up quickly, stumbling around the bathroom nervously. She began hyper ventilating even more. Her hands were wrapped around herself; breathing heavily. She needed to get rid of this. She was not having his baby._

"Can I join you?

Jenny snapped out of it, but seemed to be still lost deep in thought, "Depends." Her voice was quiet as she hugged little Charlie who was in her lap covered with a warm blanket.

Rufus looked at the old surroundings and sat next to her on the familiar steps in Brooklyn.

"You shouldn't just take off like that," He looked at her, keeping his face emotionless, "It's not safe when you're alone with a baby."

"I took the subway," She answered quietly, feeling her throat tighten, "And it's not like I'm not used to being alone."

Her dad seemed lost with words like she was. They sat there a moment. The same steps she used to take every day. She had always felt like this building was more of a home than the Van Der Woodsen penthouse. There they were, father and daughter- sitting on the stairs outside their old home, both too tired to argue anymore.

"How did you know I was here?"

"I looked for you near his place, but figured you wouldn't go there with Charlie. No matter how bad things always seemed this was the place you felt safe in."

Jenny swallowed nervously, "Is Dan still mad?"

"He needs time. All of us do-"

"But I know you won't be able to look at me the same way. Nobody will and now I even have to deal with Chuck."

His heart broke a little more, if that's even possible at this point. Rufus looked at her with vacant eyes, listening closely her next words.

"It was the hardest thing to do dad… Lying to you and Dan was not something I wanted to do." Jenny felt like she was pouring her whole self out and starting clean, "I knew keeping him a secret was the only way for me to even heal from this... from everything. Telling you would have made it more real and it's not really easy to accept the fact that you have a baby with someone who hates and despises you." Her blues eyes were filled with sorrow, "Charlie will never have dad like you and it kills me that I can't give him that."

"I don't really feel like a great dad right now," Rufus looked back at her, "Im sorry for what happened earlier," He placed a hand on her shoulder, "But I'm not sorry for hurting him- I'm sorry for hurting you two."

Jenny sighed, "You don't have to say that."

"I want to," His voice was even more determined, "I love you Jenny and you're my daughter. Nothing else matters. What happened in the past… it's the past okay? We need to move on and learn from this."

A tear escaped her eye, "Please don't say that."

"Jenny we love you. You and that little one- We love you both."

She felt like she didn't deserve her father's words and completely broke down. The blonde buried her face on his shoulder and cried all the pain away..

"You're strong Jenny." He hugged her, stroking the back of her head. "Don't ever forget that."

She finally had the courage to return from the comfort of her dad's arms and watched the sun glimmer in front of them. She opened her eyes, feeling a bit of her uneasiness disappearing as she held Charlie even closer, kissing his forehead and smiling, "Let's go home."

* * *

><p>Serena watched Dan from a distance. He was still sitting in kitchen and she could only wonder what he was thinking about. She could tell that he was extremely hurt. She had never seen him shout at Jenny the way he did earlier.<p>

"Hey," Lily placed an arm on her shoulder, "You okay?"

Serena smiled, but shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know."

"He is going to be okay."

She nodded, uncomfortable by the fact that her mom picked up her worry for Dan, "I really can't wrap my mind around this."

"It's going to take some time, but we all need to just support each other."

"It's not that easy mom," Serena snapped, "Jenny lied to all of us for God knows how long and then she comes back expecting everybody to understand. It's not right towards anyone. Not Rufus, not you, not Dan or Eric! She made a selfish decision and I don't see how I can manage to support that like it was a good thing when so many people are going to be hurt by this. Mom, think how Blair will feel-"

"Serena," Lily tensed up, "This is a family matter remember? I know you and Blair are close, but this is not about anybody else except this family. I know, stuff happened what was not supposed to happen between people we didn't expect, but speculating and making a headline out of it won't do any good."

She was a bit dumbstruck by the tone of her mother's voice, but didn't have time to respond as her phone vibrated. She opened the message and bit her lip nervously.

"What is it?" Her mother asked, nervous.

Eric rushed into the room and held his phone as well, "Did you guys see it?"

"What? What's going on?"

Serena held her phone up to Lily, "It's not a family matter anymore."

Lily's eyes widened nervously as the photo of Jenny shielding her baby appeared on Serena's phone.

"_Who's your daddy J? Baby daddy that is."_

* * *

><p>Also if you want to check out- go to my profile page and follow the link to see picture of Charlie! Atleast what I kind of picture him to look like :) It's easier for me to write when I can imagine who Im writing about! Also I will add a timeline thingy there in a couple of days (shows Charlies birthday etc) So that you get some kind of grasp of where we are with the time. Also Im adding tons of more stuff later on so keep on the look out!<p>

AND FINALLY this story will start moving as this _"omg the family knows"_ stuff is over lol :F though I want to write in a lot of detail because it makes it more realistic. I do not want to rush this even though I know people want everybodys reaction to everything and want to see what will happen.

Have a nice weekend and hopefully by Monday I have uploaded couple of pics and the newest chapter will be done!

Thanks for the support! luv you guys!

**UPDATE: Check out the story timeline now! Go to my profile page and find a direct link!**


	7. Chapter 7

She was beyond tired when they arrived back.

The ride back home had been a bit odd with her dad, but it seemed like he was more used to the idea of her having a baby though it was going to take years for Rufus to accept this fully.

When they parked Charlie was already asleep in the car seat he had managed to somehow put in the car without much trouble.

"You got him?" Rufus watched by as Jenny carefully removed the straps around Charlie and picked him up. A loud wailing erupted soon as he was lifted and she closed the car door. Her dad stood still behind her, nervously twitching as the little boys crying caught him off guard, "Jenny, please be careful with him." He was worried sick when he watched her carry the fussy baby in other arm and a big diaper bag on the other arm.

She smiled back at him, "I've done this a thousand times dad."

It was odd to hear him be so concerned of Charlie when he didn't even know he existed a few days ago, "He's just grumpy because we interrupted his sleep, right baby?" Jenny made a pouty face at her adorable little chubby cheeked boy. She dabbed his nose and offered his favorite pacifier to Charlie who seemed to calm down, "You just wanted your binky didn't you?" She kept murmuring soothing nonsense with the hope of him staying happy for the next minutes before putting him to sleep. She was not ready to face full screaming-baby mode tonight, "You're past your bedtime, no wonder you're fussy baby."

Rufus followed Jenny to the door and couldn't help but to be in awe of her. This was not the same person he had seen when she visited them for a couple days during the past summer and other holidays. Obviously now thinking about it she had been hiding Charlie at Hudson the entire time so she must have missed him. He just figured she was going through a phase of some sorts and was maybe depressed- so this was a relief in some extent. The glow on her face when she talked to her baby boy was comforting during this struggle to understand what had gone wrong with his parenting.

"You have the keys?" She asked and he nodded, opening the door to their penthouse.

He was dead tired himself and yawned, "Are you staying for the night?"

"I think me and mom will just go the hotel since he has a crib there," Jenny whispered quietly as Charlie's eyes started to close again, "It's like five minutes from here so it isn't a problem."

"You sure? We could figure something out for one night-"

"Dad," Her daughter grinned back at him, "Thanks for the offer, but I think everybody will be more comfortable if I'm not here. I mean he sometimes wakes up wailing like it is the last day on earth and I don't want you guys to lose your sleep."

"Fine if that's what you want," Rufus squeezed her shoulder and smiled, "I love you."

"I love you too dad. I will see you in the morning don't worry about it." Jenny joked, sensing the need to lighten the mood.

"Thank God you're finally home." Lily rushed into the hallway, giving Rufus a quick peck and then turned her attention on Charlie who was sleeping in Jenny's arms, "Oh the little one is all tuckered out," A small smile broke out on her face, but soon turned into a worried expression, "Are you okay?" she asked with a nervous twinge in her voice and looked at Jenny.

"I'm fine." She whispered back, biting her lip, "Could you go and get my mom so we can go back to the hotel?"

"She didn't call you?" Lily asked, sounding unsure now, "She already went back after…"

"What?" She dropped the diaper bag on the floor and held her son more firmly.

"Well after you and Rufus left she was talking to Dan and he, well he had a few things to say to her," She explained, "I didn't hear everything, but I think she just needed a time out from everything."

"Typical Allison! She should have waited for you," Rufus blew out a stream of air, warm and frustrated, "I'm gonna go and call her right now-"

"No don't." Lily stopped him and took Jenny's hand, "I have something I would like to show you."

Jenny blinked in surprise, and followed her lead into her old room.

"I know it's not much, but it will do for one night won't it?"

She didn't know what to say as she was overcome with a rush of emotions. In the far corner by the window, there was a crib, made of sturdy gorgeous dark pine. The bedding was vanilla white and looked heavenly soft and so did the baby blue blankets at the end of the crib. Next to the crib was a new table with the same coloring. The table was filled with stuffed animals, teddy bears and fluffy, oversized puppy dogs. It looked like an army of teddy bears meant to protect her little one. There was also a mobile hanging over the crib, a large plush half-moon dangling in the center, surrounded by a handful of small crystals and shining stars. Near her bed was a 'Welcome home' balloons and a vase filled with yellow daisies.

"Lily…" She sighed, distressed, "I don't know what to say. This is… this is…"

"Too much?" Lily huffed out a quiet little laugh, "I know Eric just wanted to buy all the toys for him and I haven't bought any baby stuff in years- well long story short, things got out of hand."

"Did your credit card survive this or should I just call in for a bankruptcy?"

She recoiled and slapped Rufus in the chest playfully, "Oh Rufus, not mine credit card, yours darling."

Jenny snickered at them, but then turned to Lily with a melting smile, "I was going to say perfect," She walked closer to the crib and ran her hand along the smooth wood, "It's beautiful."

The young mom looked at her sleeping son for a while before settling Charlie in the crib, trying not to jiggle him too much.

The boy doesn't even stir as Jenny lets him go.

Finally she bends down to kiss her son's forehead and tuck him in, "Sleep well baby boy."

All of a sudden it got quiet, the only voice being Charlie sucking his pacifier.

Jenny backed away from the crib and looked up, watching Rufus and Lily, "He really seems to like it, but really you didn't need to buy all of this."

Lily smiled again, with her soft, kind eyes, "You're our family. He needs his own bed when you're visiting after all."

She flashed big genuine happy smile before rushing to hug her.

It had been a long time since she had felt truly so happy and loved.

* * *

><p>Silence filled her room as she stared into the silent wall, she couldn't help but feel secure. She was glad her mother was not home, she was glad that she was all alone. It was perfect. Silence swallowed everything, every sound, every picture and every emotion. Here, safety of her room she could be herself.<p>

There would be no one to judge her when she cried like she was crying now.

There is no one there to act like they care when they really didn't.

There was only her.

Here, she could be weak and this alone was the reason why she loved the silence in their big house.

It was the only solace she received in these four cold walls.

The dark-haired beauty closed her laptop and looked at her bed before sitting down on it.

With a hand she reached out to the empty space and stroked over the neatly laid lavender colored sheet. This was the place where he was supposed to be lying in, but just like always, it was empty. He would have been there if he just had not been like that… a manipulative cheating bastard.

Every night she opened her eyes and looked at the place next to her, she saw nothing. Some people cried at the sight of something particular, but her heart broke at the sight of nothing. She wanted to laugh at the irony. She couldn't believe how pathetic she had become.

Blair shook her head and got rid of the tears in her eyes with her hand. It felt like her heart was being torn out of her chest.

Jenny Humphrey had a baby with Chuck- her Chuck.

It was like she was too numb to even feel anything anymore.

This relationship had drained her to the point where she didn't even know what to do anymore with herself. It was like everybody else moved on, but she was stuck in the moment. The moment when she realized it was all for nothing. Blair Waldorf had allowed herself to fall in love so deeply it left a permanent mark in her soul.

When the picture of that blonde tramp popped up her whole world crumbled again. Seeing her was bad enough, but seeing that she was holding a baby… a toddler maybe, with the same brown eyes as his was the last straw.

Right now her head was a mess.

Her thoughts were menacing and mean. She even for moment allowed herself to think that they had been sneaking behind her all the time, that they were laughing behind her back and screwing each other's brains out at the same time, but she knew- Chuck knew better than that. Though then again Jenny was probably enjoying this. Every last bit of it. She would forever be a part of their lives.

She liked to believe that her absence would wake something inside him, that it would leave him cold and lonely when she wasn't there. The last time they saw each other she was packing for Paris. He had forced himself in and asked for forgiveness one last time. It turned into a shouting match from both sides. She didn't know whether her last words were spoken out of malice, intended to make him hurt, but this seemed to be a rather foolish thought, since he probably didn't even care. He just wanted her back because Chuck Bass always got what he wanted.

That moment she knew, she would never return back to him.

Blair wiped her tears one last time.

The memory brought back something she thought she had lost. Her drive. Her drive to accomplish something.

Blair Waldorf would rise again and there was nothing stopping her this time around- not even Jenny Humphrey from Brooklyn.

* * *

><p>When she woke up the next morning, she smiled triumphantly and exhaled. Her eyes were glassy and soft. Jenny flipped her blanket over and smelled it. This would be a long day since she was going back to Hudson. It was very strange to sleep in the same bed and the same room that had sometimes felt like a trap.<p>

She got up from the bed and got to the crib, but the crib was empty.

In a moment of panic she staggered out of the bedroom.

"Charlie!" She yelled a few times before stepping into the dining room.

Eric looked at her and laughed for a moment before chuckling out, "You've just walked in on some male bonding, Jenny." He patted Charlie's bottom, "We were just discussing about his new friends that I bought him yesterday. He seems to be very fond of them."

She smiled at the sight, "Well I hope he thanked you," The blonde in her pajamas walked over to her baby, taking him from Eric, "Why didn't you wake mama up Charlie?" Jenny gave Charlie many kisses all over making the baby laugh outrageously.

Seeing Jenny happy, laughing and bright-eyed was a sight Eric had missed.

It was like something dark had swallowed her and now she was finally free.

She placed Charlie on the mattress and took a seat on the table and poured herself a glass of juice

"Anyways," She swallowed nervously, "Where is everyone?"

"Dan and Serena took off early," He explained, "Mom and Rufus are still sleeping. I figured you guys needed some more sleep."

"Thanks for that," Her lips curled into a smile, but soon her expression turned more stressed, "Eric I meant to talk to you yesterday, but everything… I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry, for everything."

"You don't need to apologize," He replied, "You didn't hurt me. I can only imagine what you were going through… I mean Chuck out of all the people in this world…"

Jenny shot him a confused glare.

"I meant- out of everybody in this world you end up with a kid with Chuck Bass. Who would have thought?"

She stiffened as the conversation was getting uncomfortable, "Yep. Well it did happen," Her voice trembled a little as she picked up Charlie from the mattress, "I don't really think of him as _his_ though."

Jenny hesitated, trying to choose the right words. She didn't know if he was really aware of everything that had happened, "But without this one I don't know where I would be," The proud mom stroked Charlie's soft hair, "It's the only thing that matters right now- him."

"What are you going to do about Chuck though?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"I offered him the chance see him and he declined," She kissed the baby boy on the cheek, "We are going back home and everything is going to be just fine." Her eyes did a slow blink, and she looked confident, with her unbrushed hair that Charlie tried to pull every waking second.

Eric nodded, distressed, and rubbed his hand against his knee, "It's not going to be easy today."

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't see the pic?"

Jenny's eyes widened in concern, "What are you talking about?"

Eric reached for his pocket and pulled out his cellphone. He searched something for a while before handing it to her.

She looked at it for a second before giving it back, "So they all know."

"I didn't want to upset you."

"It's okay," When she looked up into his eyes, he saw fear, hope, love, and a thousand nameless things that made him shiver, "I'm not afraid of them anymore."

* * *

><p>"You didn't need to come along." Dan finally spoke up as they walked in the crisp mid-August air.<p>

"I needed some fresh air myself," Serena said gleefully, "I need to get ready for what's to come."

"Blair." Dan acknowledged the problem.

"Blair." She nodded, "This is going to be a mess."

He said nothing for a moment, merely grinned at her, "Isn't this a mess already?"

She chuckled back and they continued walking around the park.

"So you're an uncle." Serena flicked a glance at him and smiled, the simple movement lighting up her face.

He was still lost in confusion, "I need a little more time with adjusting to that."

"Jenny and Chuck have a baby…" She noted to herself in disbelief, it was more of a frustrated whisper, "Do you think she can handle this? Being a mom this early?"

"Apparently she has been one for seven months." Dan said in a bitter stern voice.

"I heard you fighting with your mom last night… You wanna talk about it?"

"Nothing to talk about," He snapped, "Allison always does everything without thinking about the consequences. From Jenny I would expect her to be scared and not wanting to talk about her and Chuck's _lovechild_, but mom- she is a grownup! I thought she was finally acting like one, but then they slam this across my face like they did this to protect me. I'm not ready to accept this like everyone else seems to," The older brother was clearly hurt, "I can't just start playing family with them."

Serena was happy that he was able to be so honest with her.

Not knowing where they stood as a couple- it helped that they had something else to think about than their own problems.

They stand in the middle of the street looking at each other for a moment.

"You think our lives will ever be normal?" Serena started, then paused, laughing, "Maybe one peaceful day surprises like this aren't dropped to our laps, who knows…"

"I'm really starting to doubt there is even possible to have a normal life here."

"One day maybe, but apparently not any time soon."

Dan smiled back at her, "Coffee?"

She gladly accepted his offer.

* * *

><p>Lily paused in the doorway before going in the room. She wanted to watch Jenny and Charlie just a little longer.<p>

She was bouncing him up and down on her bed and laughing with him. Next the young mom scooped him up in her arms, embracing him tightly as she swayed him from side to side while making funny voices.

She knocked the door lightly before stepping in, "Hey there little boy. Did you sleep well?"

"I think he did, didn't you?" Jenny looked at the boy and smiled, "Maybe you should go and give Lily a kissy as a thank you."

Before she could say anything, he was thrust into her arms, "You're so adorable! I could just eat you up." Lily kissed Charlie's cheek and set the boy in her lap while he was happily chewing on the soft toy, drooling all over it, "Did you talk to your mom?"

"She texted me," Jenny said tonelessly and yawned, "We are going to leave at around five."

"I wish you could spend a little more time over here."

"It's for the best," She tilted her head back, and contemplated the ceiling, like she was looking at stars, "Besides I don't think you and dad want a crying baby in your house."

Lily shrugged, "We wouldn't mind it."

"I just think distance for wouldn't hurt for a few weeks or months." The younger blonde forced a smile.

She shifted the little boy on her lap and wondered if she should ask Jenny what she had wanted to ask for long time. Charlie seemed to be so quiet and calm, but his eyes were wide and alert. Like her son, Jenny twitched nervously as Lily's watchful eyes followed her every movement,"I wish we were there when he was born," Lily murmured, trying to understand better, "I hope it wasn't too rough on you."

Jenny gulped around the lump in her throat, "You didn't miss much. Just sweating, screaming and pushing," She took a deep breath, "I don't really remember much about it though… I just remember how none of it really felt real. It was hours of pain and then he just popped out."

She laughed a little, "Popped out huh?"

"Pretty much," She didn't know how to talk about these things without getting reeled up with emotions, it was hard enough to keep her emotions under control, "I know you are mad at me."

Lily raised her brows in confusion and watched as Charlie's tiny fingers curled around her thumb, and she pulled back a little, teasing the baby "Why would I be mad at you?"

"Chuck," Jenny frowned, she didn't like talking about him, "I wasn't thinking what it meant for everyone when well... it happened and I'm sorry about it."

Lily squeezed Jenny's hand, "I admit I was shocked and a bit disappointed, but I'm not the right person to judge people. Let's not dwell on the past okay?"

"I'm perfectly fine with that."

* * *

><p>"Come on, Charlie, stop crying," Jenny said softly. Her son's tiny head was cradled to her shoulder as she bounced him gently in an attempt to stop him from crying, but baby Charlie kept wailing loudly. She groaned even louder and rocked her body as an attempt to calm him a bit.<p>

"Are you sure he is just hungry?" Rufus asked behind the stove. He was making lunch, but also kept a watchful eye on his daughter and grandbaby, "You and Dan never cried like that when you were hungry."

"Well Charlie is a handful dad if you haven't noticed." Jenny looked down at her little boys red, tear streaked face and felt her stomach clench. She sometimes wished so hard that her baby boy could talk because she would know what was wrong.

Charlie's crying came to an abrupt halt when she went to the microwave and took out the bottle of milk. With one hand, like a pro, she shook the bottle and tested a few drops on the back of her wrist. Rufus smiled as he mixed his pasta sauce. He had watched her do her thing in the kitchen and felt genuinely proud by what a great mom she truly was.

"What?" Jenny looked at her dad who kept staring at her and grinned.

Rufus just shrugged back, "Nothing."

She rolled her eyes and headed out to the living room. The young mom picked up a white rag from the diaper bag to protect her shirt from baby drool and moved Charlie so his little head was now resting in the crook of her elbow. Seconds later the bottle was already in his mouth and he was enjoying the warm milk.

This was usually the time of day she felt exhausted.

Daytime was always more tiring because there was million things to remember, but it was a routine she had managed to learn.

It could get out of hand easily and many times it did happen. She was still young after all.

While he drank happily, she always looked at him, studying his face- searching herself from his features. Jenny always ended up with the same conclusion; he looked more like him. In personality he definitely had her stubborn and her determined character, but he really looked like Chuck.

It was his eyes, hair, everything was just pure Bass which she had gotten used to at this point. First it was hard to even look at the bundle in her arms, but these days it didn't bother her. She could look past his looks easily because she knew that he was nothing like him and he would never be that way.

Once he finished with the bottle, she lifted the boy up and placed him on her shoulder, rubbing and patting his back.

"You alright? Need me to heat up another bottle?" Rufus peeked from the kitchen.

"He's full." Jenny answered back.

She sat on the sofa again and sighed loudly. His tiny fingers were wrapped around her wrist. It was a nice moment between a mother and a son. The quiet moment soon turned into chaos as the doorbell rang. Little Charlie wasn't a fan of new noises and the doorbell scared him as he started crying again. With a groan she got up from the comforts of the sofa.

"It's okay baby," Jenny cooed in his ear, "It's just the doorbell."

She walked towards the door with the baby in her other arm and reached for the doorknob.

"Miss Jenny Humphrey?"

"Yeah?" She looked at the man behind the door.

The man handed Jenny a clipboard, "Sign here."

Eyebrows furrowed, she scrawled her name across the line.

"You've been served."

* * *

><p>Thanks for the reviews and if you didnt notice the little update on my last chapter,<p>

go to my profile page to check out an exclusive timeline for this story! its was lots of fun to do!

Keep them reviews coming :))

PS: sorry for the lack of Nate and Blair, but they will be very much in this story soon as this gets moving more!


	8. Chapter 8

Very scared and confused by what had happened she closed the door and walked into the kitchen. Jenny shook her head in denial, unable to speak. She could only fear for the worst. She closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath.

"What is it?" Rufus's face was as pale and terrified as she imagined her own face.

She walked towards him, her voice quiet, "Hold him for a minute please."

He examined her voice for any emotional cues, and found none.

He took Charlie from her and watched her tear the orange envelope open.

'Well?' rested on the tip of his tongue; but he said nothing and instead waited.

Her hands were trembling and she felt goosebumps rising on her skin as she held the white documents. Jenny could feel the tears welling up in her eyes as she read the first sentences on the paper between her trembling fingers, _"This can't be happening", _she thought to herself. It felt like her lungs were cut off from all air. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. She shuffled through the papers one more time in denial, holding a look of intensive concentration.

Rufus was terrified for her, knowing this couldn't be anything good. He wondered if her skin had always been this pale and her face this drawn.

"Jenny?"

She shook her head, unable to speak for a minute.

"I can't believe he would do this." She exclaimed in shock and handed him the papers.

Her dad was still holding baby Charlie in his arms, he gurgled happily not aware of what was happening around him and Jenny was panic struck as she realized what could happen. Protecting him was her first priority and right now she felt like she had failed miserably.

He was silent for a long time, chewing the inside of his cheek and staring at the papers, his gaze locked with hers, "This doesn't mean that he would-"

"It means exactly that." Her voice came out harsh and she snatched the paper from his hand, reading every word again.

Lily wondered into the kitchen and knew she had walked right into another problem. Without a word Jenny gave the papers to her and Lily hesitated to read what had evidently made the atmosphere tight. These were things the woman couldn't just comprehend - wouldn't comprehend. She had to read it out loud to understand what the papers in her hands were really saying, "_Jennifer Tallulah Humphrey is not allowed to leave the state of New York and the borough of Manhattan until the paternity of Charles Bass is confirmed and established by the law._ _The birth certificate of Charlie Daniel Humphrey is asked to be handed over as well as other legal documents concerning the child when the paternity test is performed August 17__th __10o'clock at the location preferred by both attending parties._ _The test is only performed when both parties are present and agree on the date and location. If the date selected is not suitable for you, contact the sender immediately. Under these circumstances Jennifer Tallulah Humphrey is allowed to hold the custody of Charlie Daniel Humphrey. She is advised to stay close to the residence of Charles Bass until a final custody agreement is settled. Attorneys can work out all the temporary issues if there appears to be any. Contact the numbers below to discuss your custody, visitation or support questions and concern."_

"There must be a misunderstanding here." Rufus's voice was calm.

"Absolutely." Lily agreed.

"He wouldn't have filed a lawsuit if he wasn't serious!" The optimism Jenny had in the morning melted into bitterness, "His name isn't even on the birth certificate- He can't do this! This is bullshit! I really don't understand on what grounds they can even ask of me to stay here! This is insane!"

Lily on the other hand knew. For a second she wasn't surprised by this. Chuck was known for having a temper and when he felt like he was treated badly he would usually act out the worst way possible. She had always believed that he was just misunderstood and didn't really view him as someone cruel like most people did. Chuck had always been just strong minded and had a bad temper, this mixed with money hungry lawyers- you had yourself a lawsuit.

"I can talk to Charles for you. He will listen to me." She suggested, her tender smile couldn't hide the sadness in her eyes, or the pained tone in her voice.

She felt deflated and tired. After holding her gaze for a long minute, she made a brave decision, "Could you just call a lawyer for me?" She doesn't even blink, "I think I'm gonna need one."

Rufus's face showed genuine concern, "Jenny we don't need to fight fire with fire. It will only make things worse."

"Yeah well you didn't seem to think that way last night did you dad!" She was so furious with everybody.

"I did it to protect you." He replied in a tired, beaten voice.

"I don't need your protection!" Jenny was yelling now and pointed at her son, "He does! And last night you took that away from him!"

She took the child from him and walked straight into her room.

Lily and Rufus looked at each other. He scrunched his eyes in pain and exhaled out, "Is this ever going to stop?"

* * *

><p>Upset by everything, she put Charlie in his crib and sat on her bed. She had to pull out the strength somewhere from inside her before picking up her cellphone.<p>

"I'm surprised you aren't here already," Came his answer from the other end, "I had the popcorn ready for another show down."

There was a beat of silence before she seethed, her anger flaring up again, "I honestly can't stomach seeing you right now," She was also so angry with herself that she couldn't think straight, "What do you really want Chuck?"

He grunted, "Nothing really."

"Then why can't you just leave us alone," She repeated more strongly this time, "I didn't know you really this pathetic. Going after him because you're so fucking lonely and nobody else can stand you? Is this what it is?" She snarled, "Poor little Chuck Bass who never had anybody to love him."

"Says the girl whose family exiled her out of their lives because she was too much of a bitch to handle," He drawled in his usual low, husky voice, "Your dad and Lily probably resent you… Danny boy won't be able to look at you without thinking about me… Eric, oh the only one who ever cared enough probably feels like a fool for even trying…Serena is probably dying from laughter as this plays out... now who did I forget? Oh right! Nathaniel-"

"Stop."

"He must have felt disgusted at first when he heard about this little surprise of yours, but then again he never even cared." His menacing words continued, "This act of yours is very good though, you should get an Oscar award for making people believe that you really have changed," He chuckled, his tone mocking, "In reality you're still just a stupid jealous, scared _little girl_ who will always be a low life like the rest of her family."

Cold sweat trickled down the back of her neck. She couldn't cope with him, not yet, it was clearly too soon. She thought she could handle him and his outrageous personality, but she was so wrong.

The phone line fell silent as she took a moment to pull herself together. Her fingers dug into the blanket on her bed. Her legs started to shake uncontrollably and it took a lot not to scream her brains out at the moment.

"I will kill you with my own bare hands before I give him to you," She tried to keep her voice from shaking, but feared it was transparent and he noticed how full of heart break it was, "I swear to God Chuck-"

"Calm the fuck down," He cut her off, "I don't want him."

She tried to get words out, but it seemed her ability to speak had been temporarily lost. Now she was even more confused and dazed, "Then why would you seek for custody asshole!"

"I don't want custody," Before she retorts again, he continued, his voice softer now, "This is a measurement I had to make to protect me and my company. Soon as the test is done and if I'm confirmed as the father-"

"You know you're the father."

"Like I said, IF I am confirmed as the father I want his birth certificate sealed and my identity erased from his life. I will offer you full custody for the rest of your life and the only thing I ask is that my name is not mentioned or written anywhere. I do not want any contact from you or him in the future."

Jenny didn't know what to say, but after what had happened and the words exchanged between them she knew she would never want her baby boy to be in the middle of something like this again, "So you will give up your parental rights for good?"

There was a long pause before he answered her, "Like I said, I don't want him." Chuck said against his better judgment and closed his phone.

He tossed it on the table and turned around to face the man in his living room, "Happy now?"

Jack Bass crossed his arms over his chest, "Not really," Chuck's uncle took a step closer and huffed out a frustrated growl, "If you were more careful I wouldn't have to fly here in the middle of the night and take care of your problems."

"Jenny Humphrey isn't a problem." He spat out.

"Do you even realize what how much damage this could have caused?" The man kept lecturing, "She has rights to everything- Everything your father built and sacrificed for! You almost gave away the Bass legacy to another whore of yours!"

"She would have left today anyway." Chuck murmured, not caring what he had to say.

"You should be thankful she didnt. As long as this isn't adressed on paper she has an advantage over you she can use anyday," Jack's expression was serious, "Anything else I should know about? Another baby? You didn't knock up Blair did you?"

At the way his jaw tensed, he knew he just hit a nerve, "Don't even mention her name," the man threatened his uncle, "I didn't ask for your help. You are the one who has no rights remember? I didn't ask you to keep tabs on me. I never needed your help with anything!"

The man simply laughed bitterly. He knew they exactly weren't in speaking terms, but when it came to the company and the money it wasn't a laughing matter. He didn't care what he thought of him- he would protect their family name and honor, "One week and Jenny Humphrey along with that bastard child of yours aren't a worry anymore," He sounded confident, "You could at least thank me."

Chuck narrowed his eyes, shooting daggers at him, "I've got work to do- don't let the door hit you on the way out."

* * *

><p>"I'm going to tell her that I can't just over look this," Dan told Serena as they sit in the small cafe, eating overstuffed sandwiches, "I can't do it."<p>

She nodded and gave him a curious look; she was dying to ask him about what had happened with Chuck last night, but said nothing.

"That's good though… telling her how you really feel."

After swallowing a bite off the sandwich, he said, "Somebody needs to bring her back to reality. What is she gonna do? First of all she hasn't even graduated and getting a job in a city where people are already employed enough, she has no chance without any education."

She gave him an uncomfortable nod, "I get your point- but just," She didn't really know how to say it, "don't be too hard on her when you guys finally talk."

He gave her a curious look.

"I know, me and Jenny aren't the closest, but mom said something to me last night and she had a good point," She explained, "I mean I've been there. I've experienced it first hand when this whole crazy town is against you and it isn't right to kick a dead horse when it's already down."

Dan shook his head and laughed a little, "This world is really going insane. Now I have you giving me life lessons- no offence, but I find it a bit funny Serena."

She rolled her eyes, "Whatever I'm just trying to help you."

"What's next? Blair shops at Walmart?"

They both burst into laughter, but it was probably from the lack of sleep.

The laughing stopped for Serena when she saw who stepped into the café. The awkward face she was pulling caught his attention and he turned around to see who she was staring at.

"I should go."

"You should stay Dan-"

"No," He got his jacket and tried to smile a little, "I'm not ready to hear it….I need to talk to her first."

Serena nodded back, approving his quick exit.

Dan quickly motioned hi to him by nodding toward his direction before storming out of the café.

Nate walked over to Serena's table and took a seat, "What's with him?"

"He just has a lot of things in his mind." She smiled, trying to observe him, if he had any clue of what was going on.

"So what's up?" He asked care free, "Anything new between you two?"

"No, not really," Serena was thankful that she and Nate had managed to build a friendship again even though they certainly had a colorful past. They had always lingered around a friendship and a relationship, but they both seemed to get hurt whenever it was more of a relationship. Sure they had love for each other; they just didn't know what they wanted yet. Usually it was smooth sailing for a month or two, but then the fire just burned out, "I don't know how to say this, but… you haven't talked to Jenny have you?"

"No?" Nate seemed surprised that the certain bleach blonde was brought into the conversation again, "Is there something I should know?"

"You didn't check the Gossip Girl update either?"

"You know I'm done with that foolishness," He responded, annoyed, "What is it then?"

"Oh boy…" Serena was so tired of the subject, but it did consider Nate. He was Jenny's friend- sort of, well once was anyway, "You know she is back right?"

"Blair might have mentioned it," Nate sighed and looked up to her eyes, "Serena what is it?"

She exhaled and started,"Remember the night Jenny and Chuck…."

* * *

><p>Allison was shocked and most of all angry as she read the papers Rufus had handed to her. S<p>

he knew nothing good would come from this, "Where is she?"

"In her room," He looked up, their eyes reflected each other's. Words weren't needed because they knew what was happening, "She wanted to be alone with him."

She looked at him with a questioning look,"What now?"

"She needs to stay here until they take the test. Lily arranged her a lawyer." Rufus answered as he tried to stay focused on Jenny and not his grudge against his ex-wife. Truthfully it was hard to even stand in the same room with her, "I guess she has no other choice."

"I knew this would happen." She kept biting her lip to keep her from crying. She couldn't cry, not now, "This place is like poison! These people… I regret not taking her with me in the first place'!"

"You have nobody else to blame, but yourself Allison." The girl's father snapped.

"You should have looked after her!" The woman shouted back.

"You should have never left!" Rufus growled, "Do not blame me for your mistakes!"

Allison stared at the man, hurt and disappointed by these few days, she didn't know what else to say anymore, "Tell Jenny to call me. I need to get going."

She rushed to the door, but almost bumped into Dan in the process. He looked at his mother and she knew no words would fix the hurt they had caused. Instead she hugged him quickly, he barely hugged back and as Allison pulled away she knew she might have just lost him for good. Bitter taste in her mouth she walked out of the door and left behind the family she used to have.

Dan, not moved by what happened walked into the living room. He tossed his jacket on the sofa and looked at his father who hadn't looked this worried in years, "Where's Jenny?"

He just pointed at the papers that were spread on the living room table. He didn't even have to reach the end of the first sentence when he knew what had happened. Dan shook his head in fury and headed towards her room.

"Jenny?" He knocked the door and waited for an answer, but he never received one. Without caring that she probably didn't want to see anyone he opened the door and stepped inside.

The scene in front of him broke his heart. She was in the middle of her bed, holding the only thing that mattered to her- her son and cried openly while the baby was clutching to her necklace.

Dan walked up to her bed and jumped behind her without any hesitation. He placed his hands so that he could hug her and she could lean against him for support.

Jenny allowed herself to cry harder, it was almost like she was screaming in pain. He had never seen her this way and it scared him how broken she truly was.

"I thought I would lose him," She managed to say between the cries of both terror and agony, "He doesn't want him… He doesn't want him Dan."

Dan hugged her tighter, offering himself as his little sisters support while she cried out of relief.

* * *

><p>The rain poured against the tower's windows and Chuck lifted his head to look out. He stared out of the window, pretending to gaze into the rainy weather, when really all he saw was raindrops against the glass and his own sad, miserable reflection staring back at him. He took another tentative sip short engraved crystal glass. He took another sip and let it sooth the knots in his soul before glancing around as the liquid soothed his mind like a tranquilizer.<p>

"Charles it's not even dinner time- Your father wouldn't approve of this, nor do I."

Her presence caught him by surprise and his had exterior dropped for a second. Underneath the healing cuts on his face, his face had not changed all that much since the last time Lily had seen him. She could tell he had been drinking at least a couple of days straight and it saddened her. He placed the glass on the desk with a loud thud.

"Well he isn't here is he?" He had settled into his father's old chair now, and he leaned forward to see her better, "I'm guessing you didn't come by to just check up on me."

Her eyes cast firmly on him, "I came to see you because I was worried," She offered him her most pointed stare, "and apparently I had a very good reason."

"Just say what you really want to say." His voice was rough, and Lily wondered when was the last time he had someone to talk to. He was silent for a moment, his face an eerie shadow. She could see his mind replaying events of the last two days, but finally, he shook his head in frustration, "People don't just drop by to ask me how I am- Ask me. Ask me about him."

"If that's what you want to talk about...then let's talk about it."

He shifted in his chair a little, his discomfort apparent. He didn't like to talk about this especially with Lily, but he knew it would be inevitable, like the rising of the sun each morning.

"I got her a lawyer."

Chuck raised his shoulders in a shrug and turned his face into the other direction so that she couldn't see his eyes. "I suppose that's good. Sooner I can give away my rights for good the better."

"Do you really feel that way?" Lily looked at him with her sympathetic eyes, "Don't you think this kind of a decision needs more time? You might feel like this today, but what about ten years later Charles?"

"What do you expect me to do then?" His brow raised in confusion, "Play daddy? Is that what she wants or is that what you want?"

She stared at him for a moment, not knowing what to say.

"I thought so."

"I'm not asking you to consider being a parent because of what I think is best for you," Lily reasoned, "You are as confused as Jenny is. I think both of you are making these decisions for yourselves, not for Charlie."

Chuck's face fell. He was not ready to think about him as a real person with a name; His name.

"I don't think she would appreciate you coming here and telling me to seek custody for my supposed son who I don't give a damn about. Jenny wants to raise him- let her. Not my problem."

"It is your problem." She protested.

"No it's not. I don't care. I really don't." He sounded determined, but she knew he was still processing all of this and wanted to make him really think about what he was doing.

"I understand this was not planned in any way," Lily kept at it, "Neither you or Jenny wanted to be parents; I get it, but do you want to throw this opportunity away? This is your first born Charles. This is your father's first grandchild. A beautiful baby boy with your name for God's sake- Do you really want to throw that away?"

"I never asked her to give him my name," Chuck released a bitter scoff at this, "If it had been up to me he wouldn't even exist."

His dark eyes weren't lying. She would have cut his words off if he hadn't said them in such a low, serious voice. Her expression turned worried, as if she was remembering her own past. Lily just knew they were both doing a big mistake by denying that boy his right to know where he came from. He would never know who his family is and the thought was heavy on her heart. She knew only thing she could do now was wish that they would both come to their senses.

* * *

><p>Jenny walked out of the building and breathed out in relief. She hugged herself and rubbed her arms, trying to warm up a little. A small puddle caught her attention on the street. She saw her reflection, but ignored her messy appearance because her red puffy eyes were literally the least of her worries. She had been crying against her brother's shoulder for a good hour before finally calming down. He told her to get some fresh air while he and her dad watched after Charlie. She had doubted for a moment, but figured fresh air was probably something she needed.<p>

A moment of weakness caused her to reach for her pocket. She had promised herself to stop the bad habit she had learned in Hudson after having Charlie. Her fingers trembled as she tried to light the cigarette. The torn girl put the cigarette between her lips and took a deep inhale like it was something her life depended on. It was a nasty habit, but God how relaxed she felt for a second. She never did this around Charlie and made sure she never used the same clothes near Charlie because the smell would stick to them. Jenny didn't even like to smoke, it was more of a reflex whenever she was anxious and needed something to calm her nerves. She removed the cigarette from her mouth revealing a dense cloud of white smoke, which quickly disappeared in to the air. Jenny glanced at the burning cigarette in her hand, wondering for just a moment if it was worth it, but decided she had earned to smoke this one.

Her eyes had been on the ground for a long moment. The rain had ended, but the air definitely still felt cold. She snapped her head up to take another inhale from the cigarette she was holding, but as his eyes meet hers plan change and she drops the cancer stick on the ground in pure shock.

They stopped and stared at each other for a long minute before he even had the strength to get closer.

"Hi." Nate greeted her casually.

* * *

><p>Chapter 8 done yay!<p>

So Jack Bass is in the picture interesting isnt it? Looks like there is going to be a lot more trouble... poor Jenny...

Drop a review if you liked what you read and tell me your thoughts on what you think will happen!


	9. Chapter 9

She didn't know what to do; should she go and hug him? Should she tell him that she wasn't proud of her decisions and wanted him to know how much he had meant to her- Or should she just stay there and give him his space. It was very unlikely for him to even want to be close to her right now.

So Jenny decided to play safe and just smiled back awkwardly as a hello. She didn't move from her spot, but stumped the cigarette she had been smoking. They were both slowly remembering everything that had happened between them, what felt like years ago.

"So, how have you been?" He hesitated to ask.

"Good." Jenny nodded, giving him a short and simple answer. She had hoped her voice would sound as normal as possible, "You?"

Nate nodded right back at her, "Good."

The tension didn't vanish between them, but she had absolutely no problem with facing him squarely, "I'm guessing you already know what's going on."

"I've heard some rumors." He said sharply.

"Of course you have." She whispered bitterly, her eyes moving from his, "Privacy was never really something Upper East Siders respected."

He continued, quietly relentless, "It's true then… You and Chuck have a kid?"

Jenny hadn't realized how hard it was just to nod her head or even say yes to the obvious question. With a heavy heart she finally managed to mumble out, "He is seven months."

"You've told him?" Nate seemed genuinely interested, but still held a sad gaze.

"Yeah…" She nodded quickly, "I was supposed to leave today, but Chuck being himself- he just had to get the lawyers involved with this."

The blonde laughed awkwardly, not finding it easy to talk about Chuck with him.

He looked at her distracted with the thoughts in his mind, "I'm sorry about that."

"Nate …" She started a sentence, but stopped. With that one word she awaked a whirlwind of feelings in him. He had felt so betrayed by both of them the day he learned the truth from Blair and it was hard to comprehend that they were actually having a talk about this like nothing big had happened, "Saying sorry is a bit too late now, but I'm still sorry… for everything."

The confused guy took a deep breath and tried again to calm his emotions and push away the thought of what had happened between Jenny and Chuck. But that wasn't so easy. Although he hadn't thought about her as much as he used to, after their quiet and yet so painful separation, to put her completely out of his mind once and for all still wasn't possible – there simply hadn't been enough time that had passed. How could she do it? How was it possible for her to, lie to all of them for so long without feeling any guilt? He didn't understand her and wasn't sure if he even wanted to understand at this point.

"I honestly don't know what to say." It came quietly over his lips and the unpleasant pressure in his chest, which occurred every time he thought about the whole scenario.

"You don't need to say anything," Jenny's chest heaved and fell under the deep breath she took. Then she squared her shoulders, seemed to strive to regain her composure, "I just wanted you to know-"

"Well you can't say that you wanted me to know when it was me who came to you. Like you said if it was up to you- you would have left already."

"I am sorry Nate and I know my words probably mean nothing to you, but I won't apologize for protecting my son," She said, lifting her head proudly, "I won't beg for your forgiveness or anybody else's because I made all these decisions for him. I don't want this," She motioned the air between them, "I don't want this drama in my life."

He let out a slightly angry huff, "What did you expect to get?" he paused, "What did you think would happen when you had sex with Chuck?"

"Not this for sure," Jenny began calmly, but in reality her whole body was rigid down to her fingers, "It still hurts me to think about… everything, but when I see him.." She lowered her gaze and had to swallow to be able to speak, "When I see Charlie I don't see a mistake. I would never say that he is a mistake like most people do because what happened that night changed my life. It might have been with Chuck, but without him I wouldn't have Charlie and I don't know where I would be. As much as it hurts to say, but I won't regret that night anymore. I've been able to move on from this and I hope everyone else can do the same and respect us by leaving us alone."

Nate looked at the younger girl for a long time then nodded. His anger was gone for the moment. Instead, a sense of deep concern spread within him.

She breathed in deeply, trying to concentrate on finding the right words – the words that hopefully wouldn't upset him even more, "I have to get back inside," She glanced at her watch, "I have to feed him and I'm pretty sure dad and Dan are waiting for me." The girl avoided his gaze again and nodded her head, sad and disappointed as she took off.

"You should quit now when you can!" He yelled after her.

Her head flung around to him and she looked confused.

"The smoking," He pointed at the cigarette she had dropped earlier, "It's not good for you."

Jenny smiled, gratefully taking on his attempt to lighten the mood. She grinned and those cute little wrinkles he had not seen in a while appeared once again across her nose. He watched her go inside and sighed as reality hit him.

* * *

><p>"Did you talk to your mother?"<p>

Jenny was still in her own world as she sat in the living room with Charlie. He was in her arms again and eating from the bottle she was holding. Her mind was stuck on the moment earlier she had shared with Nate.

She knew lots of things had stayed unsaid and maybe one day they could talk things through, but right now she knew concentrating on what was important was more important.

She looked back up at her dad, "Yeah I just called her," She yawned, tired again, "She already left. Hour or so and she is back in Hudson."

Rufus shook his head disapprovingly, "I don't understand what's going on in that woman's head again."

"Dad," Jenny threw him a sharp look, but otherwise ignored him as her eyes were settled on the little boy, "You guys weren't exactly welcoming and I get that she is tired of this town. If I was her I would have probably taken off too. Besides she has her job."

"Still- work is just work," His jaw clenched, "Everything going on with this lawsuit and you being here alone without her support when you clearly need her is not right."

She smiled sadly for a moment and huffed out a little contented sigh while burying her face against Charlie's little head, "I have you guys don't I?"

"Of course you do." Rufus gave a wide smile, but it soon faded, "Jenny, are you okay? You want to talk about what happened earlier?"

"I talked with Chuck," The girl whispered, her voice raspy and quiet, but strong, "Soon as the test comes back positive he will officially sign his rights away; meaning that he does not have any rights whatsoever and on paper I'm finally a single mom. Charlie won't have to deal with him and that's what's important."

Her dad frowned, struggling with the dangerous mixture of growing unease and anger in his heart, "I'm just worried about how can you manage to take care of yourself and him at the same time," He tried to prove his point carefully and Jenny tried valiantly to smile at him as she kept her attention on Charlie, "I want you to finish school and accomplish all the things you wanted to accomplish. I mean in Hudson you only have your mom, but your whole family is here- so it's going to be tough."

"Dad, I've been doing this for a while now," Jenny gave back in frustration, "I have all my credits from school. I just need to read up and do a couple of tests and I'm done. Obviously when I'm at school someone is babysitting him. Usually it's either our neighbor Lucy or mom if she is not working."

"Sounds like you have this all figured out."

She planted a kiss on the baby's cheek who was finally done eating. His chubby fingers reached out to pull her long blonde hair and Jenny winced, "Charlie don't pull mama's hair," A soft chuckle escaped her lips, "I just hope nothing else will go wrong."

Rufus stared at the close mother and son- he pulled himself together and exchanged his brooding facial expression for a friendlier, much more optimistic one.

Dan walked into the living room and looked at his sister, "Could we talk for a moment?"

She blinked, puzzled and looked at Rufus who caught the message.

"I can take him." Their dad smiled and took the little boy who was happy to be in his arms.

Jenny watched him carry Charlie out of her view and smiled. She hadn't really imagined in her wildest dreams that she would end up with all of her loved ones under the same roof. Memories disturbed her mind as she tried to think about the bright future even thought her past had been nothing but dark,

"_He is so adorable." _

_She didn't really know what to do. At first everything had been great; she'd been blissed out on the epidural and oxytocin rushing through her system, but soon as a few days passed it was like the reality was hitting her hard. _

_They were still at the hospital because the baby was born four weeks early and the doctors wanted to make sure he was strong enough to go home. He was incredibly tiny and the new mother didn't know what to do with him. _

_Every time she even touched him it made him more upset and she was completely lost with him when she was alone. _

_The joy had slowly leaked from her body and Jenny felt like she was broken._

"_I guess he is."_

_She wanted to believe that she was just bitter, but couldn't help it, all the anger that welled up from seemingly nowhere, the random bursts of uncontrollable exhaustion and the waves of emptiness that seemed like they'd last forever._

_ She felt hopeless around the baby and she knew all the nurses around her knew it. _

"_When can I go home?" Her voice was vain, empty._

_Allison shifted her attention from the baby to her daughter, who looked exhausted, "They said two days more Jenny. It takes time to heal," She looked at the adorable chubby infant in her arms and smiled, "And we want him to be strong when we go home."_

_Jenny grunted, "This is fucking stupid. They aren't the ones who pushed him out! I did, and I'm fine. I'm ready to go home already!"_

"_Jenny," Her mother scolded, "This is not about you- this is about him okay? Try to understand that! He comes first now."_

"_I know mom," She wanted to shrug, or roll her eyes, but all she could do was give her mom a blank stare, "I've been up two days straight because they keep bringing him into my room when I want to sleep and all he does is cries."_

"_He is a baby. What do you expect? I told you from the beginning if you were going through with this you had new responsibilities. He is here now and going back is impossible. This was your choice and all I expect is that you step up and take responsibility, nothing else."_

"_This wasn't my choice." Jenny muttered sad, "He didn't have a choice either mom. I'm sure he didn't ask to be born to me- who would want that? I never wanted this. Any of this."_

_Allison wanted to say something, she wanted to talk to her daughter and know what she was really thinking about, but wasn't sure if she was ready to really know. So she didn't ask. She stayed quiet because she knew that right now Jenny needed to focus on the positive side of things and not think about the past. _

"_Jenny darling…" She approached her hospital bed with the small baby in her arms, "I know it's overwhelming and you feel very confused by him right now, but I promise you that he will never think of you that way," She sounded like she was on the verge of tears, "He is so lucky to have you Jenny and you to have him. His love for you is already there because he knows you're his mother. He will never leave you like I did- He will never hurt you like some people have because he loves you." Jenny couldn't contain her tears when she carefully placed the baby in her arms._

_Her hand clenched around her daughters, and she said quietly, "Look at me, Jenny," When she complied, slowly lifting her gaze, she said in the same hushed tone, "It's going to be alright. I promise you."_

_With these words- these words hit home hard- Jenny finally crashed. She cried. Not for the first time certainly, but it's the first time she allowed it to happen completely without control. The control she thought she had over her emotions had slipped. It was time for her to heal._

"You know it scared me," His eyes flicked to her face and then away again as though he couldn't look at her, his expression deeply concerned. His eyes were tired, upset as he finally let go of his emotions and said in a miserable voice, "What I saw today… It scared me Jenny."

Her stomach plummeted as an uneasy feeling washed over her, "I didn't mean to scare you and dad. I-I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize," Dan swallowed hard, "I guess I'm the one who acted like an ass and I'm sorry about that."

His eyes, when they met hers again, were filled with deep guilt. She pushed herself up to a sitting position to look him in the eye, her own eyes nervous, "I wanted to tell you, but Dan it's not that simple."

He sighed again and then let the words come, clinging to her hand at the same time, "I should have been there for you that night instead of him... This wouldn't have happened and you wouldn't have to-"

"We don't need to think about that okay? That's in the past and it doesn't matter how much we wish things would have gone differently; they won't change and I wouldn't want that. Charlie means everything to me." The broken sister said all the words in a rush, as though she was afraid to admit that she didn't regret the shameful night with Chuck Bass.

Dan nodded sadly and let out a sigh. He knew the time lost between had made bigger damage than he thought and the headache that was drilling through his skull was not helping him through this at all.

"He has your name for a good reason."

He gave her a tired smile to conceal the jumpiness going on in his thoughts, "And what's that?"

"You're the best big brother a girl could have and the least I could do was give him your name."

Dan grinned broadly, "So it's not just my good looks and personality?"

Jenny grinned, eyes twinkling. She had always loved his sense of humor, "No, not just that."

He smiled slightly at her, looking thoughtful. After a few seconds he said quietly, "I'm honored," Her brother's voice was honest, "I really am Jenny. I'm proud of you even though I might not show it everytime."

She only smiled back as an answer and rested her head on his shoulder for a moment.

She figured she had earned to feel like the little sister again.

* * *

><p>Nate took a deep breath, opened the door and entered. He didn't like going back there, but he felt like he had to say a few things to him. He strolled across the room with as much normalcy as he could manage considering that inside he was a mass of tension and anger. He stopped before his oak desk and stood there staring at him with serious eyes.<p>

Chuck sat back at his desk and his face was hidden by a newspaper. He stared at the front page with a scowl on his face. His former friend could feel the tension in him even from the other side of the desk.

"What took you so long Nathaniel?" He dropped the paper on the desk and glared at him with the same stuck up expression, "Everybody else has already stopped by and voiced their precious opinions about me knocking up little Jenny."

Hearing her name, Nate shook his head. He looked at him blankly for a moment. Obvious dislike flashed over his features. "Cut the crap Chuck."

"Calm down, what's eating you too?" Chuck sighed in exasperation.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," The other man snapped, crossing his arms, "What do you think you're doing? If you think you can actually raise a kid you're-"

"Hold on," He stopped him and smiled smugly, "I'm not raising anyone. I'm guessing Jenny didn't tell you about our deal."

"What deal?"

Chuck didn't even have to look at his face. He already knew what was going on in his mind. A dark glint settled in his eyes and his smile stretched, "So that's what this is about…" He threw his head back and laughed, "Nathaniel, this _whole knight in the shining armor_ act is getting old."

"This isn't about any act. This is about making sure you don't fuck up more lives."

"And who asked you to do that? Huh? Her? I doubt it since unlike you I have actually talked about these things with her and I'm sure she wouldn't appreciate it if I went on and told everybody about the agreement we came to."

Nate glared at him with fury in his eyes, "What are you playing at? You never think about anybody else, but yourself. I'm sure you are the one who tipped off Gossip Girl about her being back in town since you have your dog's sniffing around this town."

"I can't take credit for that," Chuck glared at him. He didn't seem very enthusiastic anymore, "Besides why the fuck would I care if Jenny Humphrey came back?"

"I don't know… hmmm.. Let's think; well she kind of ruined your relationship with Blair and I'm sure you're still pathetically trying to get her back." He muttered back sarcastically, "I swear to God if you're using her as a pawn in some sick game of yours…."

"What?" He raised his voice in frustration, "Nathaniel, I'm going to tell you this only once so listen carefully," The line in his forehead became deeper as he sneered, "What happened between me and Jenny Humphrey stays between me and Jenny Humphrey. Nobody else knows about this _mistake _of ours and it's going to stay that way because I'd rather drop dead than tell the world I fathered a child with scum like Jenny Humphrey okay?"

His tone was malicious, his words relentless filled with pure hatred towards the whole world.

Nate didn't answer anything. He simply stared at him, feeling anger and frustration, but unable to argue with him. He had probably done the wrong thing after all. He shouldn't have thrown himself in the middle of their fighting when Jenny clearly didn't want him to know all the details.

"The next time you want to come here threating me," He turned to him and looked directly in his eyes, "Learn the full story and make sure the girl you're trying to impress actually cares."

With that said Chuck picked up the newspaper from his desk and continued his day without a worry in his mind.

* * *

><p>"You think we need all of this?" Jenny grimaced at the amount of things Lily had piled up on the table near the cash registry. She had dragged her out to buy things for Charlie since they were staying a little over a week now. The nice boutique they had arrived into was so expensive looking it made her shake in her leather boots. She wasn't exactly fan of these kinds of stores when it came to the stuff that was bought for Charlie. It was not that she didn't think that he deserved the best- she just felt like it was useless to buy such expensive toys and clothes when he would grow out of them very quickly after all.<p>

"This is my gift to you," Lily smiled happy, "Do not worry about it."

Jenny watched Lily go to one of the women working in the boutique for advice as she searched for the best quality. She chuckled to herself as she watched her pick things out like her life depended on it. Rufus, Eric and Dan had stayed back to watch Charlie for her. It was so weird to see them interacting with little Charlie who clearly didn't mind the attention he was getting from everybody. The idea of her dad reading stories to him, Dan feeding him and Eric playing with him warmed her heart. She had never felt so free and happy in her life and she would not let Chuck Bass change that. She would enjoy these days she had with her family and trust that he would do the right thing which was probably stupid.

"Look at this Jenny!" The woman squealed excitedly as she showed her a small sized dress jacket. It was navy blue and even had a tiny silky pocket handkerchief.

The girl smiled at the thought of putting Charlie into it just for the fun of it. "That's so cute."

"We have to get this." Lily demanded.

"Lily…" Jenny whined, "I don't think we have any use for that."

"Oh come on." She waved her hand effortlessly and carried the jacket to the pile of things that were already being packed into beautiful boxes with ribbons around them.

Overwhelmed by the change of scenario Jenny just nodded and figured to go with it. Her attention turned elsewhere as the cashier kept packing and Lily fussed around the luxury items.

Jenny's blue eyes looked out of the window that had a clear view into the streets of Manhattan.

She wouldn't have looked out if she knew who was staring back, but it was too late.

When her eyes find the hazel ones it's too late. Her heart started thumping louder and she desperately wanted to hide. Her intense gaze scared her. She would have been lying if she said that she wasn't imitated by Blair Waldorf.

Jenny was insane enough to walk out of the boutique and really see her. She was there few steps away from her and for a moment she thought she would have maybe attacked her viciously, but she only gazed with that piercing gaze that told more than a thousand words.

With a tote bag in her hand, the sour face Blair held turned into a smile.

A perfect smile.

She reached out and hugged her.

Jenny stiffened as the glamorous brunette woman squeezed her.

This hug wasn't warm. This hug was cold.

Blair breathed into her ear," Mark my words little J," Her lips lingered at the sensitive shell of her ear, she continued vehemently, punctuating her words, "I will make life very hard for you and that _little_ surprise of yours. Get out when you can."

She pulled away and grinned with satisfaction before walking away.

* * *

><p>Finally chapter 9 done!<p>

This one took more time because I had some trouble writing Nate.. He is so.. I dont know I just think because of his "calm" personality he is harder to write. He just seems to be the type of guy who goes with the flow unlike Chuck who goes against it every chance he gets lol! anyway hopefully you enjoyed! Yay 62 reviews already! you guys are awesoomeee!


	10. Chapter 10

Serena had heard from her mother what had happened with Jenny and Blair outside the boutique the day before.

She had called Blair, but got no answer and figured she needed some time for herself. Maybe she was ignoring her- thinking she was on Jenny's side because of her family. Truthfully she didn't know what to say to anyone at this point.

It was like she was forced to tiptoe around everything because of Jenny. Her mother didn't want to hear her talking about Blair in front of Jenny or anyone else from the Humphrey family. Dan completely ignored the subject and it bothered her.

Blair was her best friend.

She was not going to act like she didn't care about her feelings. She didn't want to choose between her best friend and her family. Serena just knew nothing would be the same and frankly was getting frustrated with people not confronting their demons.

Still that particular morning while her mind was a mess and she wanted to know what was going on with Blair, but the instant she saw Dan smiling down at Charlie as he changed his diaper in the living room, the questions left her mind.

"Looks like this being an uncle thing comes naturally to you." Serena commented as she walked inside.

Dan turned to look up at her, his smile fading, but he nodded and accepted the compliment, because he had to keep telling himself the exact same thing if he wanted to ever accept this whole thing. He was someone's uncle now, "He's in a good mood," He laughed as he picked him up from where he was laying, "I think it's auntie Serena's turn to hold you."

Serena's smile broke out into a wide grin, "I would love to."

Gently, he rested him in her arms, and watched from a close distance and smiled.

Serena seemed to be good with him; he was smiling up at her almost instantly, "I can see why Jenny loves him so much."

He nodded, because he absolutely agreed. It was very hard to understand his sister sometimes, but he knew exactly how Charlie made her feel, surely loved and a little less alone. Serena leaned back on the sofa and relaxed as the little boy was content in her arms, and she looked up at Dan, who seemed troubled, "You look tired."

"I didn't get much sleep last night," Came the mild reply, "I just don't understand her."

"Who? Jenny?"

"She really thinks going alone to meet him is the best idea? Really? After everything she has been through with him," Dan snapped almost instantly and it hurt a little to hear the pain in his voice and to see the way he was hurting, "I don't see how she can trust him."

"It's not that she trusts him Dan," She answered quietly in a deadpan tone, "Jenny knows how Chuck can be and so do I. Believe me, if you or Rufus go there with her- he is going to be very difficult."

He frowned. This was too confusing.

"You need to trust Jenny," Serena pointed out and continued, "Besides this is just a meeting with papers being signed."

He sighed, "I guess so. I just don't like the idea of them being there alone."

"We are not going to be alone." Jenny stepped into the living room in a figure hugging short black dress and a blazer, "It's me and Chuck with lawyers."

Her stomach knotted at the idea of seeing him. Her lawyer had called Lily the day before informing that there would a meeting between her and Chuck. Of course not alone- thank God. Their lawyers would be there and apparently there was some paperwork before doing the actual tests and whatnot. Jenny didn't care what she had to do at this point to get rid of him. She wanted him out of their lives for good and doing these things hurt like hell, but she knew she had to- for Charlie. This was only for Charlie. Everything she did was for him and him only.

She rushed behind the sofa where Serena sat with her baby boy, "Who is that? Is that momma's baby boy?" She playfully widened her eyes with a childish voice, "Who is holding you Charlie?" There was smile on her lips and love was shining in her eyes as she interacted with the baby who was wobbling and blabbering nonsensical words excitedly. He clearly got excited when he saw his mom standing there.

Serena laughed as he started bounce in her arms, "You want to go to momma now?"

Dan watched as his sister held her arms out and took Charlie from Serena. The baby cooed and smiled a almost toothless grin at her. He got his first teeth a month ago and there was a couple already in his mouth, "My sweet baby boy," Jenny said and kissed the baby's cheek, "How am I going to handle the afternoon without you?"

"He will be alright with us," Rufus walked to them and looked at his daughter, "Well don't you look sharp."

"Thanks I guess," The girl nodded shyly, "I figured I should look the part."

Her dad seemed to notice her nervousness, "Are you sure you want to go alone today?"

"I think one of us should go with you." Dan voiced his opinion.

"I'm not taking anybody else with me okay? I'm not going to fight about this again."

Rufus stared at the stubborn girl, "We're not fighting-"

"Then respect my decision," She turned to look at her dad and brother, trying not to look scared herself, "I'm going alone. That's it."

That only warranted a roll of the eyes, because Dan knew damn well how this would end. He looked as he felt, and in that moment he felt nervous.

Her dad just nodded and said, "Fine then I can't force you to do anything. If you feel like this is what you want, I guess there is no stopping you."

"I promise you it's going to be okay." Jenny kissed Charlie again and hugged him closely before handing him to Rufus, "I need to get going. Call me if there is anything and-"

"It's just a few hours I think we will manage." He smiled at little Charlie.

"Thanks again for looking after him."

"Don't worry about it," He gave her shoulder a little squeeze, "We boys are going to go and make some dinner."

She watched her dad walk out with Charlie and was about to follow out as well.

"Jenny do you have a minute?" Serena called as she was about to leave the room.

She cocked her head and looked at her strangely from her spot before shrugging her shoulders and nodded, "Sure."

Serena looked at Dan who immediately knew it was his time to exit the room.

"Call if there are any problems."

"I promise." His sister said sadly, unable to meet his eyes fearing he would see the truth in them.

She was more than terrified of what was to come.

She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples wearily, trying to steel herself for the afternoon. Jenny opened her eyes and looked at the other blonde in the room, "What did you want to talk about?"

Serena turned to her and asked gently, "What happened with Blair?"

For a moment she just stared at her, unable to believe she'd actually broached the subject. But then, she reasoned, Serena Van Der Woodsen had never been the type of woman to avoid an issue.

"She basically told me to fuck off," Her facial expression didn't even flinch as she crossed her arms over her chest, "What else can you expect from the wicked witch of Manhattan?"

The confrontation with Blair the day prior was too much for her to handle. She didn't want to talk about it or think about it and it pissed her off that Serena even asked about it. Just when she thought she would be ready to move on something like this happened. Every day in this hell hole of a town was too much. She hadn't checked her email or her phone for days because she knew it would be filled with questions from random people she didn't even know.

Serena didn't look too happy with her response and Jenny took notice.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to… You know me and Blair- It's just complicated," She cleared her throat that was suddenly so dry, "You don't need to worry about me. I know you're her friend and it has nothing to do with the two of us."

Jenny didn't know if she actually believed her own words. She was probably just saying things that she knew Serena would like to hear. The young girl didn't want to start arguing with her too, but still it was a tough to keep a poker face when she was talking about Blair who she at the moment despised. She had basically threatened Charlie and the thought of Blair using him as a weapon to throw cheap punches was disgusting.

"So we are okay?" Serena glanced up at her, almost surprised by her response, "I just want you to know that I'm not taking sides."

"No, no I know. We are cool." She forced an awkward smile.

* * *

><p>"Blair?" Nate walked into the Waldorf household hallway.<p>

He walked into the main lounge room where stumbled up on a scene he wasn't sure if he was ready to face.

"Nathaniel you're interrupting our tea time."

Blair smiled with her perfect pearly whites shining as did her peers.

These girls were like her minions and it was amusing to see them around Blair drinking tea and acting like she was their queen. There were a few familiar faces like Isabel, Penelope and Hazel who seemed to change their minds about being friends with Blair everyday.

"Can I talk to you?"

The girls looked at Blair and then back at Nate waiting for the cue.

"Talk away." The Brunette wearing deep purple smiled again with her perfect luscious hair bouncing as she flipped it.

"I meant alone." Nate pressed his lips together.

She got up, and sauntered towards him in her black sleek heels, "Shall we?" Blair waved her hand towards the stairs and watched Nate shake his head in frustration as he climbed the stairs. She followed behind him and they walked into her bedroom. He made sure to close the door as he knew the girls downstairs didn't know how to keep mind of their own business.

"What?" Her whole demeanor changed from the confident rich bitch to a panic stricken lost girl.

"I saw the pictures," There was doubt clearly audible in the man's voice, "I mean the ones posted on gossip girl. What was that all about?"

Blair's eyes flew back up to him and she immediately furrowed her brows angrily, "So you're here because of darling Jenny Humphrey? Who would have guessed!"

"I just want to know what's going on," He went on carefully, "I didn't really think I would ever see you hugging Jenny."

"Nate stop being so…. ugh!" The brunette uttered a disapproving groan, "What does it matter if I hug her? Is that forbidden huh? Why don't you go to her the next time! She is the one you really want to talk to."

"I didn't mean it like that," He replied much too fast and too sharp, "I'm worried about you actually."

"Do you really think that I believe that?"

"Blair come on," Nate sighed heavily and sat on her bed, "We've been friends for ages. I just want to know what's going on with you."

She hated the fact that she couldn't stay mad at him. Something in her expression changed the anger dropping away as she sat next to him, "Truthfully…" She started babbling, her words coming fast and blurred by anger, "It took a lot from me not to strangle the air out of her that moment then after that go after him and cut off-"

"I get the picture," The young man stopped her and laughed, a soft, husky sound, "I saw him and might have played with the idea myself."

She giggled for a moment before getting serious, "How was he?"

"Acting like an asshole like always," Nate's jaw tightened, "This thing doesn't seem to have any effect on him since he and Jenny have made some kind of a _deal_."

Blair's mouth pressed itself into an angry line, and her voice was cold, uninflected, "So they are talking?"

He abruptly fell silent and answered nervously, "I guess so."

They both sat there, minds wondering and the air motionless.

"You haven't told anybody about this have you?"

"No I haven't," Blair snapped defiantly with more confidence than she had felt a moment earlier, "Nobody knows that it's his bastard child."

Nate got up and shrugged, "Well it's not any of our business so we shouldn't meddle."

She silently agreed with a nod. He turned around and took her hands, pulling her off the bed. Suddenly she was in his arms, pressed firmly to his warm body and felt almost forced to throw her arms around his neck to hug him just as tightly, "Thanks for stopping by." Blair spoke as she was hugging him. Nate was really an important person in her life and she appreciated that there was still someone who saw her as she truly was. Her hard exterior had never fooled him.

"So you're not mad anymore?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her. She nodded happily and proceeded to hug him.

"Yeah, I'll get back to you on that." Blair teased him with a bright grin, completely unabashed.

They finally broke apart and said their goodbyes.

"Enjoy your tea party." Nate left her room and walked downstairs with a much relieved feeling. She on the other hand gathered herself before getting back downstairs and facing the other girls.

All of them stayed silent when she returned, their eyes narrowed and curious.

"Naughty Blair!" Hazel gasped, eyebrows raising and wiggling.

Blair stared back at the girl like she was brain dead which she probably was, "Nate is a friend idiot."

The girl rolled her eyes, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"So is he the baby daddy then?" Someone asked.

"Yeah! Is he?" Someone else agreed on the question.

"Blair when are you going to tell us!" Came another whine.

A smirk grew on the brunette's lips as the plan in her mind became clearer, "You will all know when the time is right."

* * *

><p>Jenny walked inside The Empire and felt her stomach turn. She was walking along her lawyer Harrison Campbell who was nice enough to drive her there and give her some inside information on this whole process. She wasn't surprised when she met him for the first time. He looked like she had pictured; he was a middle-aged tall man with semi dark hair, a big forehead and a few wrinkles probably caused because of the job he was doing.<p>

"You ready Jennifer?"

"Yeah." She took a deep breath and followed him into the hotel's piano bar. There were million things running through her mind. She felt more discomfort, anxiety and nervousness every step she took.

Soon enough she was standing right across him. He was wearing a dark suit with a navy blue dress shirt which was carelessly buttoned and more open than it really needed to be, but that was Chuck alright.

He didn't even mind getting up and greeting her instead he sat there lazily, staring at the drink in front of him.

His face seemed to be healing, but the cut above his right eyebrow was still very visible.

The other man next him stood up and shook both Jenny's and her lawyer's hands introducing himself as his lawyer.

She stared at the red carpet floor and carefully avoided what felt like his burning gaze.

"Please take a seat." Chuck's voice came out gruff and raspy.

Jenny raised her eyes to meet his, nervous to see they hadn't softened a bit. They took their seats at the table and she sat right across him.

"You want anything? A drink?" He looked at the man sitting next Jenny.

"No thank you. I'm okay." The man pulled out his briefcase and started searching for the papers needed.

"Nothing? Alright then," Chuck's voice was rough and his eyes dark as his attention turned towards her, "What about you?"

"You know I don't have the age for that." She snapped back.

"Didn't stop you before." He drew a sharp breath through his teeth and both of the lawyers sensed the tension between them.

"So let's get to the business."

"Gladly." Chuck muttered, having an opinion on everything.

"We have constructed a sealed document that contains the official deal considering the custody of Charlie Daniel Humphrey," Chuck's lawyer explained as he handed copies of the papers to both Jenny and her lawyer, "This document explains what my client, Charles, is asking from Jennifer when it comes to the future of their child. Because my client is not mentioned in the birth certificate he is not legally responsible for the child, but we want to make sure Charles's identity is kept anonymous for the rest of their lives. If Jennifer would for some reason reveal the boys fathers identity to him personally she is breaking the contract and will have to pay _a nice_ amount of money as the result. After the DNA test's are performed and _if_ they come out positive we sign these papers, giving our clients finally a chance to move on with their lives."

Jenny listened what he had to say and nodded, "Sounds reasonable."

"Are there any questions or anything we need to know?"

"We do have one subject we haven't really touched," Harrison Campbell reasoned, "financials and child support for the moment."

"If you turn to page seven you will find the payment plan my client has made-"

"Wait a second," Jenny interrupted their talk, "I don't want any money. I thought I made it clear. I don't want anything from him."

"Here we go again." Chuck rolled his eyes and snorted.

She kept shaking her head as she read the amounts of money he would be paying, "No. I don't want this."

"It's not for you blondie," He spat, "for the kid."

* * *

><p>"You know staring at the clock isn't going to make the time go faster."<p>

Rufus turned to look at his lovely wife and grimaced, "Don't remind me."

"She can handle him."

"I know she can," He paused, quickly sorting his confused thoughts and jumbled emotions, "I don't like the fact that they are signing important papers without us there. Jenny isn't old enough to understand what she is actually signing."

"The girl isn't stupid Rufus," Lily's smile crumbled a bit, but she kept her stance and nodded bravely, "Besides she has Harrison there. He is someone we can definitely trust to look after what's best for Jenny and Charlie."

"If you say so," He said sadly, but then smiled, "Speaking of the little man, did he fall asleep?"

"He did," She beamed, "I'm so thankful for this time with him."

He grinned as well, "Believe it or not, but so have I. He's grown on me."

"Well he has a very nice grandpa." Lily joked and pursed her lips to keep from laughing.

"That still stings." Rufus chuckled and leaned over to gently kiss her.

She nodded, kissing him again. "Mm-hm. Well I've always liked older men better."

He chuckled quietly and pulled her into a hug.

"Strange, isn't it?" Lily said thoughtfully, "It only took a baby from Jenny and Charles to make our family stronger."

The man pretended to glare down at her, though his eyes danced with humor, "Only?"

"You know what I mean," She sighed against his chest and then said quietly, "Dan and Serena have been getting along. Eric is actually home most of the time now. We have dinner together and breakfast with the kids- It's a dream come true."

"Yeah I know what you mean. It's been great."

"I thought about giving Charlie and Jenny a little party before they leave," His wife insisted, "I think they need an official welcoming party so that the next time they come back they feel like they belong."

"I don't know Lily," Rufus thought about the idea, but wasn't crazy about it, "Jenny isn't much of a socialite and I don't think she wants to put Charlie into the spotlight."

"I'm only talking about a small gathering," She said confident, "I'll talk to her I'm sure she will like it."

"We'll see."

* * *

><p>Jenny was reading over the documents- still not liking the idea of Chuck Bass slipping money into her account every year.<p>

"We can alter the contract if needed-"

"No, we are not changing anything." Chuck insisted with a stern voice, "This is the deal. Take it or leave it."

She looked at her lawyer and grimaced, "I guess I don't have any other choice."

"It's not a big deal. Put the kid into college or whatever, " He took another sip from his drink and leaned against the table now, even closer to her, "I don't want him to end up like you."

"Says the alcoholic manwhore." Jenny answered with an agitated tone.

"I'm flattered," He grinned as he spat back and turned to look at the grown men in their table, "Give us a minute will you?"

The man next to her looked at her questioningly. She nodded back at him, telling she would be okay and didn't mind if he stepped away for a moment. The two men got up and walked up to the bar, leaving her alone with Chuck Bass himself.

"What do you want me to do?" Chuck didn't know what to say, he didn't know where to start, "I'm giving you a golden ticket and you're acting like this is the worst day of your life. You fucking hit the jackpot girl."

"You just don't get it," She tried to explain, her stomach turning as the memories came back, "I've been doing this since he was born by myself and I don't need your money- we don't need your money to manage."

He closed his eyes tightly, frustrated, "Only you could make this so painfully complicated."

"I know you want to give this money to him because you think it will make you feel better," Jenny refused to be persuaded, "You think that this will comfort you? This is the exact reason why I don't want you in his life."

Her attitude made his blood boil, "What did I do now? How is that everything is my fault and I'm the one to blame?" Chuck growled back, angry, "I'm not the one who came by that night and was so easy- I'm not the one who gave birth to a fucking mistake!"

"Don't you dare to talk about him!" She raised her hand up and sounded more hurt than ever, "This is why you sicken me! You're only paying this money so you can sleep your nights well. You're not thinking about him! Like always you're thinking about yourself!"

He didn't have anything to say to her and only stared her down.

He rolled his eyes and went back to enjoying his drink.

They were staring at each other again in anger and frustration.

Jenny felt her eyes well up by the moment, "I don't care if you want to pay- I just think you should know that when you see him for the first time no amount of money will take that guilt away."

They exchanged glances again.

Her bitter words alone were more than enough to make him feel like an idiot.

"You're not giving me much of a choice." Chuck muttered, "Nobody is."

She was too stunned to immediately react. Jenny could hardly believe what she thought she heard him say, "W-What? What did you say?"

Their conversation was cut off by someone who had walked in without anybody noticing him, he gripped Chuck's shoulder hard and grinned from ear to ear, "Hello Jenny."

Jack Bass was the last person she had wanted to see that day.

* * *

><p>Yaay new chapteR! sorry since its summer ive been laying on the beach and stuff not wanting to stay inside and write...<p>

its warm so im trying to enjoy it will it lasts! :)

hopefully this was good and omg we almost have 70 reviews! amazing! thanks so much!


	11. Chapter 11

"Somehow this doesn't surprise me at all." Jenny said evenly, trying to keep her cool. It wasn't really working. Her fists clenched under the table so tight that she could no longer feel her own hands. She didn't really know Jack Bass personally, she just had heard things and everything said about the man was disturbing. Bringing him back into their lives was a low blow, even from Chuck.

Even though Jack could see her turmoil perfectly, he didn't really even consider leaving and sat next to Chuck, "Do not worry about me. I'm only here to look after Charles. Hopefully he hasn't offended you," He looked at her with mocking tone of voice, "We are simply both here because we want to make sure you and your family are satisfied with the aftermath of this ordeal."

"If you want me to act thankful then you're talking to the wrong person," Her bright blue eyes shone in concern, but managed to keep her pretty face fierce, "I'm not signing these papers because of Chuck or because of me. I'm signing them because my son deserves better than this."

"I agree."

The statement made her pause. She was a bit surprised by his constant mood swings. One moment he was yelling at her like his life depended on it and the next he actually agreed with her, sounding lost and even looked normal rather than his cocky self. She gaped at him and couldn't seem to wrap her mind around what he had said.

"What? I can't agree with you?" Chuck asked frustration evident in his voice.

"I err didn't… I mean I can't ask anything else from you," Jenny told him, her voice wavering, "That's the only thing I wanted to hear."

Chuck's uncle listened their exchange a little worried. He didn't want him to be brainwashed by the idea of being a part of that child's life, "Well look at that Charles- you should be proud of yourself for making the first _good_ decision in your adult life."

He ignored Jack's comment and returned to her, "We can split the payment if that's what you want," His voice was gentler than she had heard before, "We can always compromise."

The girl stared at him nervously, biting her lip, "That sounds a lot better."

He raised his hand to wave at the lawyers. They got the message and joined them again.

"Mr. Gillingham would you please take off the payment plan from the contract and add a paragraph stating that it is up to Jenny how much she wants and when she wants it. When she contacts me personally for a payment I will make it. She can choose if she wants my help."

The lawyer wrote down what Chuck had said and nodded, "I will get the new version of this done by Friday when we will meet for the tests. If there aren't any other questions then I guess this meeting is done."

Jenny's lawyer Harrison nodded as well, "Jenny is there anything you would like to ask?"

"No. I'm good."

"Charles?"

Chuck shook his head.

She followed her lawyer's example and rose from her seat. Chuck drank down what was left of his whisky and kept his glance at the table, not willing to look her in the eye. Jack instead got up and extended his other hand for her to shake, "Thank you for being patient with him Jennifer."

She hesitated, staring at the man's hand. As much as she thought the gesture was a joke she still took his hand and shook it tightly, "He isn't much of hassle if you know how to handle him." Jenny looked at Chuck and smirked slightly in victory.

Jack Bass watched the blonde walk out with her lawyer while Chuck's lawyer followed them out of the door.

He turned to his brother's son and warned him, "She may have been stupid enough to get involved with you, but doesn't certainly act that way anymore. That right there is a smart woman."

"If she was smart she would have taken the money." Chuck replied in a bored tone.

The older man chuckled loudly in response, "Not everything is about money."

Chuck remained quiet for several minutes, thoughts torturing him, "She is off limits." His voice was a deadly calm as he turned to face him.

The slightly smug lift of his right eyebrow made Jack narrow his eyes and scoff at him, "Like Blair was?"

He gave a chuckle, but there was no indication of humor in his voice, "No, not like Blair," He paused, face contorting in anger before firmly replying, "If I find out you've approached any of her family or her during the rest of your stay I guarantee you I will break your neck, making you the spineless loser that you really are, _uncle_ Jack." He paused in between every word he spoke to let his message sink in.

His uncle watched him get up from his seat and walk away, "Charles I would think twice before going on this path," Jack yelled out after him, "You are not in any position to make threats remember? You're not the only Bass in this town anymore."

"Maybe not," Chuck turned to stare him down once more, "But this is _my town_."

* * *

><p>"Why is he screaming!" Eric screamed almost as loud as Charlie was crying. He looked down at the baby, his face was red and tears were falling down his little cheeks.<p>

Dan tried to wave a little plush toy in front of him and make funny faces, but he wasn't buying it. Charlie kept screaming and screaming and screaming…

"Okay, I just called Lily she should be home soon," Rufus tried to stay calm himself, but found it hard since the little boy had been crying on and off for almost an hour like he was angry at all of them for letting his mother go out of his sight, " I've never seen a baby this unhappy."

Eric bounced him in his arms, shushing him at the same time, but it only seemed to make him cry harder, "I can't take this anymore," He handed Charlie to Rufus and breathed out, looking like a nervous wreck, "Finally I see a little Chuck Bass in him."

Rufus shot a look towards him, "He is probably just overwhelmed."

Dan's face developed a frustrated look, "Well I would be overwhelmed too if there were three guys you don't even know bouncing you around."

"What if he is hungry?" Eric stared at the distressed baby boy.

"We just fed him remember?" Dan snapped, "Shit, how does Jenny handle this?"

"Don't cuss in front of him, Dan, jeez!" His father scolded, cradling crying Charlie, "What were you guys doing with him before this started?"

"Nothing! He just—I don't know, he just started crying!" Serena's little brother panicked, as the boy started squealing even louder if that's even possible. "We didn't break him or anything, did we?"

"What? What were you doing with him that you could've broken him?" Rufus hissed.

"We were just playing around with him- Should we call someone? Who should we call?"

The man looked at his son, "We can't really call anyone else. Lily's on her way."

"You guys try to… I don't even know." Dan backed away from the situation and sighed in relief as the crying got silent in his ears.

Eric and Rufus decided to rush the wailing baby upstairs to Jenny's room. He put him down on the changing table, and they both stood there for a moment, staring down at the boy. Eric turned to him and blankly asked, "Well, now what?"

"I don't know Eric."

They both stood there helpless until they heard the door open downstairs. Lily stepped inside, wearing her gorgeous silk wrap dress, silently cursing herself for not having foreseen this. She didn't know what expect when she walked in after getting a call from hysterical Rufus.

She could hear the faint screams of the poor baby coming from down the hall, and looked at Dan with raised eyebrows. "How long has this been going on?"

"Oh, you know. Not too long." He replied sheepishly and took a bite off the apple he was holding.

Lily climbed the stairs and followed the soundtrack of the baby's screams.

She walked in the room, "What's the matter baby?" Rufus and Eric sighed in relief as they saw her and allowed her to take over.

She then picked him up and held him close to her, rocking and shushing him. Charlie seemed a little calmer, but still kept squirming under her touch, "Eric can you fill his bottle with cold water?"

Eric shrugged and left the room to do what he was being told to do.

"What do you think is wrong with him?" Rufus asked his wife, "We've tried everything."

"I'm guessing he is teething and his gums are sore," She explained while gently putting her finger into the baby's mouth, feeling around his teeth and gums for signs of any new comers, "Yeah there is definitely something there."

Charlie's reaction immediately was to chew her finger happily, and slowly his cries slowed down to short hiccups.

"Looks like he is happy now," He said, smiling fondly up at her, "Just be careful he doesn't bite your finger off."

She can't help but break the peace with a quiet laugh, "His little teeth can't do that much damage."

Eric finally showed up with the bottle and handed it to his mom. Lily sat down on Jenny's bed with the baby boy as the he started to work feverishly on his bottle.

"Yeah I thought that would do it," She smiled brightly down as she used the burp rag to wipe the tears from Charlie's face, "The cold water soothes his gums down."

Eric sighed audibly as he walked out of the room tired and ready to collapse on his bed for a good nap. He could finally hear his own thoughts.

"You have no idea how scared we were."

Lily looked at her husband and smiled, "Three men and a baby is never a good combination."

* * *

><p>"So what's up?"<p>

Completely annoyed by the awkwardness that had inevitably been between them for the past ten minutes, Blair looked up from her plate of food, "S, would you finally say what's on your mind and stop pretending that there is not a particular reason why you asked me for dinner." She snapped at her friend.

Serena pouted at her, "I'm sorry Blair it's just that… you've been really quiet and I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable."

She looked at back at her strangely, wondering what her point was. "Well you aren't exactly doing a good job."

She was about to contradict her friend, but returned with a light voice, "I asked you out because I want to know what's going on with you. You haven't answered my calls and I was worried. Nate told me-"

Blair kept her posture and answered fiercely, "I'm okay. Actually, never been better. Nathaniel is just being ignorant as always."

"Are you sure?" Serena asked hesitantly, her eyes shifting nervously, "I think everyone is still a bit shocked."

The crestfallen brunette choked on air and whined, "Can we stop talking about this?" Scrunching up her nose in disgust, "Jenny Humphrey has a baby with Chuck who cares? That's not my problem."

"I know you're not okay Blair," Her friend argued at first, but knew she wouldn't open up to her anytime soon if she kept pressuring her, "But if you feel like you're not ready to talk about it I will respect that."

She rolled her eyes at the blonde, "Whatever."

"So I heard you are putting together something? Care to share?"

Developing a malicious grin, Blair casually replied, "It's a surprise. You will find out eventually."

"Blair…." Serena knew the girl was up to no good, "Whatever it is- don't do it."

"What?"

"I know you're planning something against Jenny and it will do no good," She tried to sound serious for a second, "Just remember that she will be gone soon and you don't have to feel threatened-"

"I don't feel threatened S," Blair let out an airy laugh, while she challenged her, "Why would I feel threatened by someone who had to have a baby to be one of us. How pathetic is that! Jenny Humphrey is scum! "

"I don't think she intended this to happen."

"Since when did you start defending her?" She raised her eyebrows at her, completely disagreeing, but all the same wondering why she would say that, "Oh right you're banging her brother again."

Serena looked at her in disbelief, "You know my relationship with Dan has nothing to do with this," She snapped before she could stop herself, "Besides me and Dan are friends."

"Yeah right." She chirped back sarcastically enough for her friend to be annoyed, "Like I said- she has nothing to do with this unlike the rest of this town I'm not obsessed with her pathetic little life. This event that I'm planning- or should I say, party," Blair said evenly, forcing herself to smile, "has nothing to do with Jenny Humphrey's and Chuck Bass's upbringing."

To Blair's surprise, Serena actually forced a smile too, only more strained, "Well I'm glad."

"What did you think I would do?" The brunette arched an eyebrow and regarded her suspiciously.

"Knowing you it could have been anything." She laughed awkwardly, "You're Blair Waldorf- The queen of upper east side."

Blair smiled in a sad way. Serena stared uncertain for a moment, mesmerized by that small smile. It wasn't bitter, proud or fake…

it was just sad. Plain sad.

* * *

><p>"I should have warned you about his teeth," Jenny now sat in their living room with baby Charlie safely in her arms, "Sorry that you guys had to deal with that."<p>

"I'm surprised I still have my hearing left." Eric blurted out and Dan nudged him, making him let out a wince.

"Oh come on it wasn't that bad." Rufus joined them in the living room and sat across her. His lips twitched as he waited for her to tell what had happened at the meeting. He didn't want to pressure her; neither did anybody else in that room, but they were still watching her every movement like a hawk. Her face had been unreadable since she had arrived which irritated Eric and Dan. Lily stood by and watched her closely.

Jenny appeared to be deep in thought again as Charlie was calm in her arms and it made her smile. She looked so genuinely happy like she was at peace with her life for the first time in her life. She truly was happy and for a second she allowed herself to relax.

She lifted her gaze and noticed the many pair of eyes staring at her, "I guess you guys want to know what happened…"

"If you want to tell us, we are all ears Jenny." Lily tried to encourage her.

The blonde had to snap back to reality and think about everything that he had said to her and everything that had left unsaid, "Everything went great except…" She bit her lip, trying to think of a way to tell everybody about the special guest crashing their meeting, "I don't want you guys to freak out over this and worry when I have already caused so many problems for everybody…"

"Jenny, you need tell us." Her father pressured, "We can't help you if you don't let us in."

She turned her eyes away casually, but inside her thoughts were frantic, "Jack Bass was there."

Lily's expression fell quickly. Jenny could tell how upset she was. Rufus tensed up and immediately his eyes were also on his wife. Lily was one of the strongest women he knew and it wasn't often that he saw defeat in her eyes.

"I can't believe him," Rufus hissed, frustrated, "Why would he bring that sick bastard back here?"

"I don't think it was him." She said wryly, holding their son while pondering about what she had witnessed. Jenny could tell the moment Jack had appeared Chuck was not amused by his presence and was less of an asshole which surprised her completely, "He didn't seem too happy about having him there either."

"Would you stop making excuses for him already? Do you even realize how stupid you sound? He is playing you again." Dan snapped, not giving her time to defend herself as Lily jumped into the conversation.

"Okay that's enough," She said sternly, not giving this subject the chance to torn them apart again, "I do not care why he is back and who brought him here," The woman looked torn, but in the end she shook her head roughly, "What worries me is that he was there. We do not need someone so unbalanced close to Charles when he is making this important decision. If he is being pressured into it then it's not going to be good for anyone."

Eric was also clearly aware of the change in the atmosphere, and was unsure of whether it was a good or bad thing, "Chuck wouldn't let anyone tell him what to do mom. I think we all know that."

Jenny tried to block out his taunting voice from her mind. She tried to forget the moments where he made her believe that he was her friend—that he cared about her well being for a second… because the truth was, he never did.

"We don't need to worry about him. He would have made this decision even without someone telling him that it's the right thing to do," Rufus noticed his daughter's clenched jaw and the intensity of her eyes as she told her opinion, "He told me to screw off. I think it was pretty loud and clear." The tiny boy in her arms squirmed a bit, but was more interested in grabbing her mother's hair and face.

Dan still seemed unhappy with everything and gave up on trying to voice his opinion when he only seemed to make his sister act even more naïve. He didn't understand her decisions and probably would never understand. They were on completely different pages with this and he found himself fed up with the topic for the day. Without a word he walked out of the room, not giving anybody a look or a word about his current mindset.

"Don't worry about him," Rufus sat next to her, offering a comforting squeeze on her shoulder, "Did you sign any papers?"

"No," She said firmly, not letting her brothers behavior ruin her day, even though it felt like the damage had already been done, "We are doing that on Friday."

"Let's just hope everything will go as planned."

Jenny looked at Lily and then back at her son, kissing his cheek sweetly. At the end of the week she finally had him all to herself. It was a very calming thought.

* * *

><p>Yay update! Finally got to upload it since I've been off to college and haven't had time to write much... Anyways hope ya enjoyed!<p> 


	12. Chapter 12

Thanks for the great feedback! =)

* * *

><p>"So the car is ready. Lily and Charlie are waiting for us. Ready to go?"<p>

Jenny wasn't sure what to say to her dad as she finished up with the baby bag for Charlie. Her mind seemed to be doing cartwheels, yet again as she packed extra diapers and formula for her tiny man. She turned around to face him and he could tell she felt uneasy about it all, "Not really, but what can I say? I guess you're never supposed to be ready for something like this."

She was painfully aware of the fact that he would be seeing her baby, their baby for the first time.

Rufus cleared his throat and carefully chose the words he would speak next, "It's going to be alright kiddo."

She wasn't ready for this. Her heart beat furiously, "How do you know that? What if he wants to hold him? How am I supposed to deal with this dad! It kills me to even think about something like that because he doesn't see what a gift that baby boy is. Chuck doesn't understand that my whole life is in his hands. Everything; my heart and soul belong to Charlie and I can't have anybody take this from me."

"Hey, hey calm down," He clutched onto her hand, "That will not happen. If there is anything I've learned from life it's that everything happens for a reason. I never wanted this for you, I admit that and you know that I'm still… adjusting so to speak, but I'd hate to think how you would have ended up without him. You were blessed with him for a reason and he will not be taken away now. This is how it's supposed to be."

He could see Jenny soften under his watchful gaze and the girl looked as if she was going to burst into tears any second now, "I didn't think I would ever hear something like that from you."

They hugged and she laughed a little, "I'm so done with being worried and scared. I'm all out of tears."

"I think we all are."

* * *

><p>Dan was still annoyed by his sister's complete reverse flip in demeanor, reasoning and behavior. She seemed to be in denial, and hurting herself would be the only outcome. He had warned Jenny right from the start. If she was going to be like these people in the end, she might just as well be stranger to him. Right now it felt like that- even when he had already told her was proud of her. He was honestly proud that his sister had changed in so many ways, but still it didn't mean he was agreeing with her decisions. Dan was always the one who had cynical views on the world and he didn't like it when people ignored the problem. The problem here was Chuck.<p>

Seeing how Jenny had changed when she met him, the possibility of actually them being in any kind of speaking terms was not something he wanted for her.

"Did they leave already?" Serena had walked into his room without him even noticing.

She actually managed to pull him out of his thoughts.

"I think so. I heard the door close at least," Dan shrugged it off, "Anyways I haven't had time to even ask you about Blair. How is everything?"

"She is coping… I don't really know what else to call it."

He smiled looking down and then back up, "That bad huh?"

She was not keen on talking about her best friend who she felt like needed to be protected. Blair had never really been easy to deal with and for obvious reasons people were very intimated by her. Serena really over the years had learned to be patient with her and knew things weren't always what they seemed.

The girl with the bow headband wasn't as malicious as people thought she was.

She had her insecurities like anyone else and the only thing Serena wanted for her best friend was happiness which in her opinion she truly deserved. She deserved to have a good boyfriend and to be treated right, just once in her life. If there was anything she wanted for her- it was unconditional love and support because the young woman who people feared so much was not any different than the rest of them.

The blonde just smiled nervously and tried a different approach, "How would you feel if I showed up with another man's baby and practically crushed your dream about being the one to give me that child."

"Not good I suppose," Dan answered honestly while trying to avoid the subject when it came down to their relationship, "I never realized Blair ever thought about having kids with Chuck."

"She didn't " Serena sounded a little irritated, "Sure, you think about the future and wonder what will happen, but I think Jenny having a baby with Chuck made her realize what she could have had. She basically stole her dream."

"That sounds a little harsh."

"It's the truth."

Dan stopped to think for a second, "So you think Jenny should have just kept this from us?"

"No absolutely not, "She crossed her arms over her chest and said firmly, "She should have never even allowed this to happen. I mean look at your dad, my mom, you, Eric and Blair. You're all clearly upset and have a reason to be upset, but what I'm saying is that this all could have been avoided. Jenny should have known better."

Dan thought Serena was blowing things out of proportion. He counted to ten in his head. He crossed his arms and pinned her with a look that said cut the crap, "You can't seriously say that this is all on her," His voice was anguished when he spoke again, "Jenny could have avoided this all if Blair and Chuck were mature enough to handle a relationship. So yeah maybe they should have known better."

Serena just glared at him and he glared back. She didn't like the sound of that at all. She was feeling very defensive, and upset that Dan was so mad at her, "I didn't want to upset you, but that's just how I feel. I hate to see you and especially our mom and dad this way. You would have to be blind not to see that they are both holding it in. That's not good for any of you."

He didn't know what to say because he felt like whatever he said Serena wouldn't understand how he felt. In a long time he had not felt like this which was disappointing. All of sudden he didn't feel like being around her and even talking to her about the subject.

"Serena," He looked up at her sideways with shaded eyes, "If that's your opinion then fine… just don't come to me acting like you care about my well being and feel like you're justified to bash my sister on the side."

"Dan I didn't-"

"Just go."

She looked stunned and, for a moment had absolutely no idea what to do or to say.

"I…." Serena was still confused and uncertain. He didn't give her the chance to say more as he went to open the door for her. She took it as her cue to leave.

* * *

><p>She carried her son while Lily and Rufus along with her lawyer followed her inside the room one of the nurses had directed them in. They were in a private clinic where the paternity test would be taken. After that they would meet up for the result hearing and signing the contract at their house. Surprisingly enough Chuck promised to drag his ass in there without much of a fight.<p>

Jenny placed the diaper bag on the floor and sat down while Charlie was sucking his pacifier without any idea of what would happen. Lily and Rufus, both dressed sharp were discussing something with the family lawyer while anxiously waiting. The room was full on white, but in a good way unlike most hospitals. This again was way too minimalistic for Jenny's taste with the big windows and the comfortable white leather chairs, but she had to deal with the lifestyle of these people a couple more days which calmed her mind a little.

Her forehead was getting sweaty and her legs fidgeted a little because of the nerves. When the door opened, her instant reaction was to shield Charlie's face with the palm of her hand and make sure turn him away so that he couldn't look at him. She knew she was being childish, but what else could she do?

Jenny was not ready. She just wished she had realized it earlier.

_"Just get comfortable on the bed and we will start," The doctor was all smiles with her clipboard in her hands, "How've you been feeling since the last check up?"_

_"Okay I guess."_

_"Nothing alarming?" She kept asking eagerly while Jenny was preoccupied with her cellphone, not giving her any sort of eye contact or even a hint of a smile which made the doctor not so understanding, "I'm sorry, but I have to ask you to close your cellphone."_

_Jenny rolled her eyes and shifted carefully as she could on the bed what seemed to be a lot smaller than the last time she laid there. Being six months pregnant wasn't easy when it came to moving around. She flashed the closed cellphone in front of the doctors face and smiled, "Happy now?"_

_All of the nurses and doctors knew her as the young girl with the nasty attitude. Whenever she came alone to checkups she could tell people were staring at her with a disapproving look, but it didn't bother her. She just didn't care._

_"You know it's a hospital policy Jenny," She reasoned and continued with spreading some of the gel around on her stomach, "Where is your mom today?"_

_"Work like always." _

_"That's unfortunate. She's going to miss a good ultrasound." She replied with a very bright smile, "There the little one is." _

_And there it was, in black and white, on the screen in front of her._

_"Still there huh?" Jenny said in a quiet voice, mostly to herself._

_"Yeah it's not going anywhere." She kept looking at the screen and examining the little human inside of her, "Looks like this one is very active and growing very healthily. You have nothing to worry about at this point. Have you noticed the baby moving around a lot?"_

_Jenny was still staring at the screen with her dull eyes, "I can't really sleep because it keeps moving around every two seconds." She mumbled and laid back on the bed, "When is it gonna stop doing that?"_

_"Not anytime soon I'm afraid," The doctor chuckled and returned to her clipboard, "You're now 25 weeks along which also means that I can definitely tell you which one you're going to have."_

_"Which what?" She asked, frowning a little bit._

_The doctor turned to her, explaining, "Sex of the baby."_

_"Oh..."_

_"You wouldn't have to call the little one 'it' for the rest of your pregnancy."_

_Jenny looked back at the doctor with a firm look on her eyes, "I like 'it' better." _

"You don't have to hide his face from me," Chuck's voice broke the silence in the room, he had taken a seat across her on the other side of the room, " I've seen pictures."

Everyone waited for her reaction and watched her drop her hand from his face. For almost a full minute everyone was silent and motionless, and she felt as if a giant fist had been slammed into her stomach soon as she noticed him gazing at her son.

He was just staring and it really caught her off guard. Tears gathered in her eyes and she lowered her gaze to kiss Charlie's forehead. She had repeatedly reassured herself that she was going to be fine when this would happen, but at the moment her heart raced and sweat misted even more on her forehead.

He watched the shadows of thoughts and emotions play over her face, she looked tired. Well she had a reason to be. Chuck didn't want to actually pay too much attention to the kid, but suddenly he was overwhelmed by the miniature version of himself. A bright yellow giraffe plush toy in hand and pacifier in mouth, the boy's watchful eyes latched onto him. He blinked his large eyes in bewilderment, before babbling and thumping his head back against Jenny's chest and kicked his tiny feet. Seemed like he wasn't scared of his appearance, even with the cut above his right eyebrow.

"Charlie settle down." Jenny laughed at him lovingly, maybe forgetting where she was for a moment.

He was still watching her and the baby boy.

When she looked up into his eyes their eyes locked and he knew they were thinking the same thing.

Who would have thought they would end up here?

"Too bad you didn't bring your uncle along," Rufus focused his eyes on Chuck, "I had a couple words to exchange with him."

For a moment, expressions of annoyance and even outrage chased themselves across his face. Lily had been silent, her eyes growing wider as he spoke, gripped with a wordless terror. The lawyers seemed to just stand there awkwardly looking at their watches, waiting for the process to begun.

Chuck looked at her and shook his head, "Of course you had to tell them and upset Lily over nothing. You don't have to worry about Jack- let me handle him."

His voice had turned cold and she frowned, suddenly defensive.

"I don't have to explain myself to you Chuck."

Lily sensed what was coming and decided to step in before the madness even started "Okay you all need to calm down. We don't need to make this any more difficult than it already is." As she spoke, her voice was edged with it growing anxiety, "Right Jenny?"

Jenny's voice was slightly strangled, "Right..."

She then looked at Chuck, demanding the same behavior obviously.

"You don't need to worry about me."

"Make sure it stays that way Charles."

He looked like a boy being scowled at by his mother as he sank further in his chair.

The door opened again and inside walked the doctor, older gentleman who was unknown to both of them. After the greetings were exchanged he was ready to go straight into business, "So we are here to prove someone's paternity today."

Everyone nodded in the room.

The doctor took out what looked like two cotton swabs sealed inside plastic covers. He then pulled on his rubber gloves and looked at Chuck, "You probably have been already explained what we are doing here today, but from a medical point of view this is test result is 99.99% accurate. We are taking a sample from both of you and by cross-matching the DNA patterns we can establish if you are the father. The way that this works is that, we rub the swab on the inner cheeks and under the tongue and collect cells. The friction caused by the rubbing naturally causes thousands of cells to get detached and gathered onto the swab. These cells will tell us what we need to know."

He was looking around, his face impassive, but there was something beneath the control. Chuck shook his head as though trying to clear it, "Let's get this over with."

He opened up without question, letting the doctor swab his mouth before pulling it out and sealing it.

"You should get that cut checked out...looks rather nasty." The man remarked as he scrutinized his face.

"It's no big deal," He looked straight at Rufus who tried his hardest to ignore him, "Accidents happen don't they Jenny?"

A look of intense irritation flashed across her face and her words came quickly, "Oh shut up Chuck."

The doctor laughed heartily at what was happening in front of him. This wasn't actually the worst he had seen when it came to parents not getting along. He next moved to take the test from Charlie which proved to be a little difficult. The boy started squirming in his mother's arms soon as the doctor got closer with the swab. He showed resistance, but after a few minutes of trying they were able to get the sample.

"When are the results going to be in?"

"This will take a few hours."

Rufus sighed ruefully and shook his head at the answer. He was so ready to move on from this and forget this ever even happened.

"Maybe Charles and Mr. Gillingham would like to join us for tea as we wait for the results." Lily could imagine all their faces, possibly baffled by her idea, "And before you all tell me I'm nuts- just think of this as an peace offering. You need to end this on good terms."

Jenny's attempt at a smile was forced, "I'm pretty sure Chuck has other things to do than sit around with us drinking tea," She turned to him, words fading as she saw his strange, disconnected expression, "_Right_?"

A look of mischief spread over his face. The answer did not come immediately, "Actually tea sounds very good right now."

In that moment she looked so angry as though she could shred him into pieces and even the doctor felt the discomfort of witnessing something so intensely private being so publicly visible.

* * *

><p>He had justified himself over and over, even when there had been no need to and in the end he had come to wonder why? Why was it so important to convince everyone that he felt nothing, but protective over Jenny?<p>

Nate was fiddling with things on the dressing table, picking them up, putting them down, his eyes flicking restlessly, settling on nothing.

Could it be because it everyone else saw through him? Could it be that, even though externally he had remained calm and collected, inside, within his own mind, somewhere there was repressed feelings from earlier years.

"You need to stop touching my things." A fleeting smile warmed Blair's face.

"Sorry." Nate looked startled, as though his mind had been miles away.

She looked thoughtful for a moment, and then seemed to decide to ignore it.

"Zip me." She pointed her index finger to the back of her dress. The dress was red, almost painfully bright and stunning against her pale complexion. It was simple in design, but elegant in its lines and lace detail. In no way was it inappropriate- the opposite. It was decent length and there was no cleavage showing.

He didn't find it awkward or uncomfortable. She lifted her hair, revealing a view of her nape and he zipped her in, "Nice dress."

Blair blew out a breath, "It's not just a _nice dress,_" she spoke softly, "This is an vintage Chanel couture dress from the 60's made with one pair of hands and a needle with thread. The type of dress royalty used," She continued as she crinkled her nose, "Unlike these days with the dumpster hipsters roaming around in their square glasses and flee infected jumpers."

Nate's smile was rueful, amusement in his eyes, "You are unbelievable."

"And you Nathaniel like many other men don't appreciate nice things."

"I do appreciate nice things," He laughed softly, "Sometimes though people with nice things fool you. You shouldn't judge a book by its cover."

"Says the man who I have not seen date a girl who doesn't own an American Express Platinum."

His face hardened.

"Oh… right, I forgot about her for a second." She rolled her eyes, "But I think we can safely put her now in that category since Chuck will be her sugar daddy for the rest of her life." Blair's face rarely gave anything away, but she was smiling at him, there was an expression like tenderness in hers which was surprising, seemed like she was in good spirits,"Anyways thanks for joining me today. Mother would have been a pain if I went alone to this event."

"No problem. I'm always down for a good brunch."

"Also you don't have to worry," There was a suspicious twitch at the corner of her mouth and her eyes were dancing, "Everyone knows we are just friends so you can hit on anybody you want."

"For my own good I think I'm just gonna stand in the back and smile." Nate folded his arms and looked at Blair with cool challenge.

Her smile was slow and serene, "Good decision."

As they were walking out he stopped and said, "Jenny isn't the only girl who I have dated and didn't come from money," Nate returned to the earlier topic, "You forgot about Vanessa."

She scoffed, "Oh please. "

"I'm just saying my track record isn't that bad as you make it seem…" He muttered.

"The only thing I remember about that girl is that she needs a good conditioner because that scruffy mop on her head wasn't worthy of being called hair." Blair smirked up at him with a wicked mischief in her eyes. He didn't even dare to disagree with her at that point.

Nate's smile broadened into a grin. "I will say it again- You're unbelievable."

* * *

><p>"Shit!" Jenny cursed under her breath, trying desperately to open the baby food jar, but in frustration ended up slamming it on the table.<p>

Charlie was mouth open, watching his mom in awe- sitting comfortably in the new high chair Lily had bought him. He still sometimes wobbled around, not able to sit without his little head flopping a little forward.

"Sorry baby. Momma's nerves are a little tight today," She looked at her son and sighed, "You're just chilling there like there is no care in the world huh?"

The faint smile he offered to her warmed her heart.

"I'm so glad at least you won't remember any of this."

Handling this situation professionally had been her first instinct, but she couldn't help herself. Of course she took it all personally. She was basically faced with someone who was saying her son was not wanted. Did she expect Chuck to feel and act differently? Absolutely not. She knew going into this what would be the outcome, but it still stung that he wouldn't acknowledge him as his own. Jenny had been running over everything in her mind, trying to understand it all. So much had happened and nothing still felt right. It was like looking into a mirror that had been shattered, its pieces put back in disarray. Her mind would be fractured for the rest of her life.

"You alright in here?" Her father had stepped into the kitchen and peered at her, a look of concern on his face.

"I'm just fine dad. Life couldn't be better," Jenny's head went up, her eyes widening and shining with indefinable emotion, "Chuck Bass is in our living room because your wife decided to invite him in and he is probably loving this. You basically are feeding his sick mind with my misery."

She picked up the baby food jar again and tried twisting the cap off. She grunted as she used all her strength to open the jar, but still got the same result.

"Let me," Rufus took the jar from her and she wasn't exactly grateful for his help, "I know Jenny- we both know this situation is ridiculously uncomfortable, but don't blame Lily's good nature for what you two did. Whatever it is that happened should be forgotten already. A couple of hours more won't change the fact that today this all ends." The lid popped open and he handed the jar to her.

She looked anguished, her eyes filling with doubt. Jenny felt strangely comforted by her dad's words, but it wouldn't make her forget about certain memories that still haunted her.

"What do you want me to do?" She turned her back to him, searching for the bright blue baby spoon, "Go there and act like I'm okay? Because I can't do that dad. I can't even look at him. I know it doesn't make sense, but that's how I feel."

"Do you need it to make sense?" He stopped and looked at her, surprised.

Jenny dipped the small spoon into the orange mush and began feeding Charlie. It was never much of a hassle to get him to eat so this was an easy task.

His daughter looked earnestly into his eyes, "I'm afraid," she admitted to him," I'm afraid because I realized this is not going to end today. I mean you will live here because your life is here. Dan's life is here. This damn town will always be home to you two and in the future when he gets old enough and asks me to take him to see Uncle Dan or grandpa what can I say? I can't protect him from this place and as long as you're here so will be Chuck."

Jenny's face was unreadable as kept feeding her baby boy. Acknowledging something to yourself was one thing; saying it aloud was something else again. It made its reality less easy to ignore.

"He is never going to be completely wiped out of his life. He is never going to be his dad, but he will always be there."

The look of sadness had fallen across Rufus's face as he heard her.

He looked at his grandson's happy face and then back at Jenny, "Sometimes things occur that are beyond our understanding. We can only accept them as being."

"Being what?"

"Just being there."

She nodded at him knowing she finally had to suck her pride and talk to Chuck.

Face to face.

No excuses.

It was time to talk about everything that had happened.

* * *

><p>Just to make it clear: Nate and Blair are not going to be a couple in my story. They are just really good friends and I like writing them because their relationship kind of reminds me of me and my best friends relationship- we were so-called '<em>high school <em>_sweethearts'_, it ended but we are even better friends now. I feel like the show kind of messed Nate and Blair's relationship up. I mean them- being so close and friends for so long and then next they were almost strangers to each other like wtf. I mean I just want to portray them being as very close and understanding towards each other because they will always have some sort of connection.. and YES GIRLS AND GUYS CAN BE JUST FRIENDS. Even after they have hooked up. Can be done. That's all Im saying about this lol..

So GG is officially done which is sad, but I wasn't really watching these last seasons because well... i kind of lost interest soon as they started meddling with freaking hundreds of new characters.

Anyways GG maybe done, BUT I AM NOT.

xoxo until next time!


	13. Chapter 13

**Happy belated 2013! here is chapter 13!**

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><p>She wanted to be strong when she walked towards the living room, but she was uncertain, still confused. Not exactly resentful, but ashamed that their secret was forced to be this public. Never in her life would have she wanted for her family to know what had happened.<p>

Jenny emerged from the kitchen and her eyes immediately found Lily. The expression of anxiety on her face deepened as she opened her mouth to speak, "I think dad needs your help with something… in the kitchen."

Lily understood that this was her way of saying that they needed privacy. The lawyers weren't actually there, but were returning later with the results and paper work. She was grateful for having this little time to talk to Chuck. Even though she only managed to get a few grunts and mutters as answers. Lily got on to her feet quickly.

A gentle smile spread across her features, "I'll go and check on him."

Soon as they were left alone there was silence for a moment, but he did not pretend not to understand, "What?"

Jenny was facing him, her back straight, eyes calm.

"I thought we could talk," She said the word cautiously, unsure of what his reaction would be, "like _really_ talk about everything."

Chuck tilted his head towards her, " We've been doing nothing else than talking lately."

She searched for the right words, "I know, and I know that you don't care what I have to say or what's on my minds but," Her voice was very soft and timid, "I just need to know everything before we completely cut all ties."

Jenny expected him to jump up and leave without giving her a chance, but instead he was getting comfortable- he tossed the gray suit jacket he had been wearing aside. He straightened his light purple dress shirt and they looked at each other for a long time, "Talk then."

She would have voluntarily chopped her own arm off before sitting next to him, so she settled for the old bastille lounge chair in the corner of the room.

"You told me I didn't need protecting," Jenny approached the subject, asking about that night in the bar when they had met up, "You said I was grownup and you saw it even if Nate didn't."

"Ok, now refresh my memory…" Chuck felt a stab of irritation, his chin resting on his hands and they were staring intently at one another, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Why would you say that?" She asked, no uncertainty in her voice.

"I never lie," His eyes flashing grimly, "I told you the truth that's it. If you think that was my way of making an effort to do some groundwork before doing the dirty with you, it wasn't " He leaned forward making her feel small under his piercing gaze, "girls like you only need two or three words and you're willing to do _anything_."

Jenny snorted, showing a blank face not letting him get to her, "I never thought it was about…you know. I don't know why it bothers me… but I guess there isn't a particular reason why I remember it."

He paused for a moment, "Says a lot if you still remember a meaningless conversation like that."

"Almost nine months alone with your thoughts is a long time," She swallowed hard, "I guess after everything… you end up hoping maybe it wasn't as meaningless as it really was."

Now he looked uncomfortable which was rare from Chuck. He hastily composed his features and drawled lazily in a nonchalant voice, "I gave you a chance to leave and you chose not to take it," he inhaled slowly and continued, "Let's not pretend you weren't asking for it."

Jenny opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Her face contorted with frustration and distress, "Yeah well Chuck I was lonely and fucking messed up."

"Not my problem."

"True it wasn't, " There was still confusion and wariness in her expression, but she didn't flinch as she held his gaze, "I made my choice that night and I dealt with the consequences later on my own. I take full responsibility for that."

Chuck scoffed quietly like he could care less, "You could have handled it differently."

Her eyes burned brightly, "That's what you would have wanted, but I couldn't do it."

"What I _want_," he repeated her words mockingly and then his eyes traveled over her in a way that made her shudder, "Do you actually believe you know what I want?"

"What? You think if I had told you earlier you would have supported my decision?" the young girl was suddenly filled with overwhelming hatred because he was making her feel guilty, "I am not Blair. The only person who maybe would have gotten a supportive gesture in that situation would be Blair- That's not me. It was not Blair that night and it might kill you to think that it could have been, but you have no right to make me feel guilty for my decisions because in the end they won't affect your life. They affect only mine and Charlies."

Chuck stared silently and solemnly at her. It was the first time that he had seen Jenny with that mix of rage, determination and downright hatred on her face. There was a long, unpleasant silence and it seemed like this would really be the last time they spoke.

He didn't understand her naïve and weak character. If she would have just had an abortion or given the kid away there wouldn't be a problem now and they wouldn't have to stare at each other in the eye. She was still the same girl who was a mess inside, but outside tried to look as if she was on top of her game. He saw through that and it was maybe because that mirrored his own behavior sometimes. Though Jenny was still a complete nutcase in his opinion, he had noticed how she reacted whenever it came to the kid. She didn't seem to shy away from defending him whenever there was a chance and honestly it looked like she wanted to scratch Chuck's eyes off when he had seen the baby earlier.

He tried to handle this situation rationally, but he kept feeling anger boiling up inside whenever Jenny even opened up her mouth and he would have to immediately suppress it. For a few seconds he toyed with the idea of simply taking off and not coming back. Instead once again even surprising himself; he simply looked at her, and said something he thought he would never in his life say to her.

"Sorry."

Jenny stared at him, perplexed, "For what?"

Chuck seemed to be gathering strength. And then, finally, he spoke, "Not seeing that you weren't ready for it."

To her he seemed sincere. It really was strange to see him admit something like that so humbly.

"I know what it's like to grow up without one parent or well two, my father wasn't… he and I, we were never really on the same page," he admitted honestly, "He will probably struggle with that..." Chuck sighed in exasperation – he never had any trouble telling someone off, but whenever he wanted to say something meaningful the words simply wouldn't come," Just don't give up on him."

For a moment she didn't trust herself to speak.

It was true that she had been deeply affected by Chuck in a lot of ways. Their first meeting wasn't exactly a good experience for her. The only thing she could remember from that night was the way he had touched her unlike anybody else had before. He was her first real kiss. Then suddenly they were sort of half siblings. During this time she had no problem with him.

He was there, but in her world as a jackass who maybe sometimes saved her from her idiotic decisions. Her whole world had been revolving around Nate, then Damien and then Nate again. So it was still a mystery how in earth her mind had worked that night. She had insisted to herself not be like other teenagers and make her first time count. It was supposed to be special. Her brains didn't seem to get the memo though.

One night they wallow in their despair together and the next thing she knows he is telling her if she stays they won't be playing video games and watching movies like she would have with Nate. She stayed and lost her virginity to him.

Bad as her life was she didn't know it would get worse. She had his baby on January 12th the following year.

Suddenly Chuck Bass, the person she had ignored and thought was irrelevant would be a part of her life forever.

Her life had come into a full circle.

From the night he had tried to take advantage of her to the night they took advantage of each other's misery.

Now they were sitting face to face and he was apologizing. This had a sense of unreality, as though he was giving a performance, and she half-wondered if he would pull a rabbit out of a hat as an encore.

The tension and control faded from Jenny's face, "I think we will be alright."

"Yeah that's what you say now." He chuckled back a laugh.

She felt relieved to hear the humorous tone in Chuck's voice. The way he had turned serious all of a sudden made her uneasy, "What do you want me to say to him when he gets older about you not being there?"

"That's up to you."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded, "Anything else?"

"I can promise he won't hear anything from me about you being his... _biological dad_, but I can't speak for… other people."

Chuck considered this for a moment. He knew she was right. Blair would have a field trip humiliating the kid in the future if he ever visited Rufus and Dan, "Don't worry about Blair. She won't say a word, and if she does then it's not going to affect our contract."

Stillness and silence descended once again, broken only by the constant ticking of the clock, and the occasional rumbling from the kitchen.

"For a second I thought you were one of those people," He cast a critical eye over Jenny and stated hastily, "who leave and don't return."

She flinched, his words slicing through her mind like a steel blade.

"Sometimes I wish I was." The girl met his gaze and he was struck, by how hollow her eyes looked, "And I could have been one of them, but I'm glad I wasn't because I wouldn't have him now." Her voice sank until it was barely above a whisper.

"This place usually leaves you empty inside. Go figure- you didn't." Chuck continued in a tone laden with sarcasm.

"As much as we _dislike _each other at the moment- I can only end this all by saying thank you for not making this hard for us so that we can move on." A slow smile spread over Jenny's face as she realized there wasn't actually anything else to address, "I guess that's it."

"That's it."

* * *

><p>"What are you doing here?" She had walked right up to him after seeing him standing in the hallway of her mother's rented luxury penthouse while everyone else had already found their seat inside and were chatting away. The brunette already knew the expression that would be on his face. That maddening stupid smirk that had always driven her crazy. He always though he was better than the rest of them and Blair had a problem with that.<p>

"You can blame Serena," Dan muttered, but felt that he was fighting a losing battle. Whenever Blair decided to be spiteful she always knew the right buttons to push, "Your ex-boyfriend is at my house. I really didn't feel like seeing him today or any other day for the matter of fact."

Glancing down, he saw her thoughtful, slightly worried expression; but she said nothing. He was leaning against the wall, observing her with a sad glint in his eye, "I don't like this any more than you do."

"Well you couldn't be more wrong." She retorted.

"Yeah right I forgot you've moved on."

"I don't need to explain myself to you Humphrey," Blair replied through gritted teeth, "I don't know what Serena sees in you, but frankly seems like you're no different than your sister. Desperation reeks from you."

Dan snorted. "Look, you don't like me and I don't like you. But that's fine, because I'm not here for you; I'm here for Serena who invited me. So why don't we just stay out of each other's way and everything will be fine."

They were still glowering when Nate and Serena appeared next to them.

"I hate to put an end to your fun," He looked at Blair, "but one of your mom's friends is being way too touchy for my taste and it's getting weird."

Blair glared at Dan one last time then turned and walked away with Nate.

Serena watched him apprehensively for a few minutes, but in the end the tension was too much, "I didn't think you would come."

"Yeah, well…" he answered gruffly, "I already promised to be your plus one and I kind of knew this would cheer me up. There is nothing better than watching old ladies use a _'charity'_ event as an excuse to get drunk and gossip. Oh and Blair is just a bonus in all of this."

She was leaning against the doorway and watching him with a half-amused, half-concerned expression, "I figured so," she replied with a slight smile, "It's a _charity_ brunch actually."

"Why do I get the feeling you were sent to watch after me?" Dan asked eventually.

"I was not sent. I'm the one who invited you remember?" Serena replied, with a tone that implied that no one would dare send her anywhere, "Your dad might have slightly implied that you need something to do today because he doesn't want you to run off and do anything reckless."

"I see…"

Serena advanced toward him and rested her hands lightly on his shoulders, looking anxiously into his face, "Are you still mad at me for what I said? I never meant to hurt you."

He sighed impatiently, running his hand through his hair, "This is one of those things we can't agree on because we were raised differently. You think I should speak my mind completely to Jenny and tell her how bad I feel for her. I almost did it, but then I found her grumbled with fear and shame in her bedroom and I realized no matter how much I despise her decisions she can never know that I don't see her the same way I used to."

She had not tried to interrupt him during this outpouring and now they stood facing each other, "But don't you think she should know? Jenny can't live in a bubble believing everything is okay."

"I've kept things to myself because I'm trying to do what's right, because I don't want her to be hurt any more than she has been already. And even today when I know that Jenny is getting herself mixed up in God knows what with Chuck," Dan shook his head in disbelief. "I need to step back and say I'm proud of her because she is my sister. I'm pretty sure she knows everything isn't just fine and dandy in our family right now. I don't need to remind her of her mistakes."

A wave of disappointment consumed her. Serena closed her eyes and turned away slightly, her shoulders drooping, "Holding secrets can ruin you. I know burying this will make you slowly miserable."

"Are you sure that's not just how you feel yourself?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Dan let out an audible frustrated groan, "We need to finally talk about us."

* * *

><p>Chuck waited on the sofa. He felt as though he was hitting his head against a wall and it was because he knew that Jenny had, somehow inadvertently, said something that distressed him. He had finally succumbed to exhaustion of everything. His eyes swept the room, and he felt painful disappointment that this is where he ended up.<p>

"So… she looked happy," Lily's voice broke him out of his thoughts, "I take it as everything you talked about made her feel relieved."

It could not have been easy for Jenny, he knew that; her attempt, however well-intentioned, to do right by both them had failed from his part. Before it felt like this would not change his life in anyway, but the more he spent time around the problem itself it made him doubt everything. Those deep thoughts he did not even allow his mind to fathom were more on the surface and Chuck was not ready to dwell in them.

"She shouldn't feel relieved," He pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind and concentrated on the fact that he had managed to squirm himself out of this without a bigger effort on his behalf, "That kid doesn't even have a chance."

The woman was rather taken aback by Chuck's cold, formal, tone. Her first thought was that something had happened to upset him and immediately felt concerned. Lily had learned that his only safety mechanism seemed to be shutting himself off completely. Often this was the side everyone saw- the empty shell of a man who was never taught how to express himself.

She could feel the muscles in her face begin to hurt with the effort of keeping her enforced smile in place as she yet again, tried to make him express some sort of emotion, "What makes you think that?"

He looked at her, and the beginnings of a bitter smile began to play over his face, "My genes- that itself makes him a lost cause."

Lily's eyes were suddenly alight with enthusiasm. He wasn't denying him anymore, or at least subconsciously he had thought about the boys future.

"You're being too harsh on yourself," She objected, "Even if you're not there for him… I can tell that he is going to have a bright future with Jenny. I hope eventually, maybe one day you can tell him why you chose this route."

"I am going to pretend that I didn't hear that," Chuck replied coldly, "Do you really believe all of that rubbish? As far as I'm concerned this never even happened."

"All I'm saying is that there will be a day that you will wonder _what if_ and when that day comes don't be ashamed of it," She was using her most reasonable tone of voice, which only made him more on the edge. With a huge effort, she managed to sound convincing, "On paper this baby boy is Jenny's, but Charles a piece of paper won't change the reality that you fathered a child. I just feel obliged to tell you that it doesn't get better with time. He will always be here and that feeling of doubt will also be there."

"I appreciate the pep talk, but I can guarantee you that I will sleep my nights without a doubt in my mind," His smile had an edge of malice and continued, coolly, "She chose to play mom and I never agreed to play the dad- he wasn't wanted and will have to deal with it."

"Like you dealt with it?" Her voice held a trace of sadness.

They looked at each other for a long time, and Chuck had that feeling of calm that he always had when he spoke to Lily, even when the subjects were this heavy. Maybe it was because she seemed so calm, so strong herself.

Luckily for him his cellphone rang and he could leave the conversation with a good reason. He looked at the caller ID and sighed, "I'll have to take this sorry."

The woman looked at the young man in disappointment as she realized they wouldn't be continuing their conversation.

This was probably the closest she would get.

Chuck walked into the hallway for some privacy and finally answered, "I told you fools I'm busy all day. This better be important."

"I don't mean to interrupt," A shaky male voice explained, "but your uncle, Mr. Jack Bass requested certain files about Bass industries and The Empire which establish all money transfers from last year. He assured me that you are aware of this as well as the board meeting which is happening soon, but it's against protocol so as the owner you have to agree for me to hand these over…."

"Wait what? What board meeting?"

"Sir, he has rounded all the investors up and they were informed about this a few days ago. You yourself signed the papers for-"

"Forget it," Chuck rubbed his forehead in frustration and snapped, "Connect this call to William."

"Sir, there isn't a William working in our floor. Do you mean Wilson?"

"Yes! Whatever just connect me now you idiot." Chuck was no fool, he did not think that the past could simply be erased through good intentions and a willingness for tolerance. But he had, perhaps, forgotten how shady Jack actually was. This problem with Jenny had completely blinded him and he could only blame himself.

He waited as the phone beeped and heard a familiar voice on the other end, "Yes?"

"What the fuck is going on?" Chuck let out a breath edged with distress, "Why did you not tell me what my uncle has been doing there behind my back!"

"As a man to another man I have to applaud you for being so blatantly stupid," The man, who Chuck had even threatened with firing sounded like he was lecturing him, "For someone who runs two huge corporations and doesn't read the papers he signs-"

"Get to the point!"

"I told you earlier what our situation is. The stock market has dropped and doing so- we had to sell bits and pieces of Bass industries to the investors. They basically own you at this point, but this is more of a temporary solution. They have helped us from completely falling down and since The Empire was combined with the Bass industries from your wishes- this also connects it to these shares we sold out."

"What are you saying? I still have the ownership don't I?"

"Last night you signed away 2 percent which means that this group of people have 2 percent over your head," He replied, calmly, "You own 48 percent and the rest of the investors own 52 percent, but it's spread out so individually they can't own more than 10 percent. Your ownership is safe this way."

Chuck wanted to give himself a huge smack on the face for not realizing what was going on. He hadn't thought much of it when he put his name under that paper. Now it made a whole lot more sense why they kept asking him if he was sure. He composed himself quickly and hated to ask what was on his mind, "The board meeting- Jack asked for financial files so I'm guessing he will make an attempt to buy them out. Is it possible for them to sell?"

There was a pause, "Ah – Err yes it's possible."

"Shit!" He cursed loudly, "Well can I buy them myself before him?"

"Unfortunately… you can't buy back these shares because under our company policy in this situation shareholders will eventually step down as the numbers increase and Bass industries along with The Empire make enough money. Basically you can't buy anything back with the name Chuck Bass because you own the companies. They are holding your name as an escape if something goes wrong, but at the same time they won't sell to you because they simply can't. In a sense the shares will have to be combined naturally when the time is right and honestly the way we have been going... it's not anytime soon."

The issues were starting to make his head hurt all over again. He looked at the ceiling trying to figure out what to do or say. There was certainly no time for complicated explanations and he had to make quick decisions, "What can I do? I need some good answers since you idiots have possibly completely fucked up everything I have worked for- what my father has worked for! And I promise you if Jack gets hold of these companies I will come after you personally." His loud voice registered his anger and frustration.

Intimidated, the man answered quickly, "Only possible way is that you have someone from your family to buy or a close friend you can trust, but personally I don't think you should worry about anybody buying or selling anything at this point."

Chuck stood, lost in thought for some moments. He didn't have anyone he could trust with this. Lily was possibly the only person, but he didn't want to drag her back to battle Jack and knew it wouldn't be right for him to ask anything like this from her.

He stifled these thoughts; he didn't want to drive himself mad this way, but then an idea crept into his mind, demanding his attention. Chuck wasn't too sure if he wanted to even approach the absurd solution, but he knew that he definitely needed someone else's help.

Relief swept through him. Even now, even in this mess, he still had the power to beat him at his own game, and if Jack wanted to play dirty he sure as hell wasn't going to sit back and watch him destroy his life. It just meant that everything he had planned was down the drain for a while at least.

Chuck smirked to himself and laid out his master plan, "If I would be buying a part of these shares back with someone else's name who happens to be under the legal age- In my understanding I would be in control of these assets until he is in fact over the legal age. There will be years enough to improve our income and eventually I get my companies back without any problems."

Simply genius.

"You can't control just anybody's life like that."

"I'm not saying just anybody."

"What do you mean?" he asked suspiciously.

"I'm saying my son will own Bass Industries and The Empire."

Once- this would have been his idea of hell.

Funny how things change.

* * *

><p>see what I did there lol... oh pooooor Jenny what you got yourself into.<p>

Don't lay with the wolves kids- you will have millionaires on your case for the rest of your life! LOL

Anyways thanks for the feedback :) keep it coming! I really love love love receiving your thoughts!

And sorry if this story seems slow..I want to keep it on point with the story line and make sure to capture every imagined moment in my head and pass it on to your screens!


	14. Chapter 14

Get ready to read another long chappy xoxo

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><p>"I thought we were friends," There was a bite of exasperation in her voice as she looked around them, "I don't really want to talk about this here."<p>

Dan tried to control the confusing mass of images in his head; all the memories from good to bad.

"I don't think they mind waiting you for another ten minutes." He ignored Serena's plea because knew he knew she would avoid the subject as long as possible.

"What do you want me to say Dan?"

"Why did you avoid me for such a long time and then suddenly you are acting like nothing happened?" He sighed under his breath, giving her a bold look, "If Jenny hadn't walked into our lives with Charlie we wouldn't even be talking."

Serena glanced away, narrowing her eyes as she thought. She paused, seeming to carefully weigh his words before she replied, "That's not true. I was not avoiding you- I was trying to be there for Blair. You know she had a rough few months."

"Why can't you just admit it to yourself? Is it really that bad to have feelings for me?" His tone sounded flat and his expression was awkward.

"I know it's complicated, but I can't just jump into this again when just a while ago I was with Nate." She surprised herself by the level of anguish in her voice, "I need time for myself. That's my point. I want to be your _friend _and since we are family I'm not going to let our personal issues affect our friendship, we are friends aren't we? "

"We are," Dan said softly and suppressed a smile, "I guess this just wasn't what I was expecting."

Her stomach tightened. She could feel the criticality of the sentence; his eyes had locked so intensely on her face that it made her want to change her answer, ""I—want to…I mean—I know….it's j-just…" she took a deep breath and released it slowly, "There are some things I'm…still trying to understand. Things I thought I knew, that I can't really understand about myself. And I'm scared—" The blonde cleared her throat, finding her voice again, "That I don't know how to do it right. That I'll mess it up and you end up hating me or something like that. And if that happened…if I hurt you…if you hated me…I'd feel like I ought to crawl in a hole and die because that's how much I need you in my life."

He met her eyes again, his gaze subdued yet laser-focused, torn between sympathy and a faint smile. Acceptance was more like it, "I'll wait if that's what you want."

Serena returned his gaze in silence. She hoped her gaze reflected the same back to him, "That's all I can ask. Let's just keep this simple until we are both ready to handle a serious relationship."

* * *

><p>"I don't like this."<p>

"Jenny, it's quiet. Just enjoy it while it lasts. For once nobody is yelling or crying in this household."

"I know it's quiet, that is exactly why I don't like it. I know that they are probably using this time to discuss everything written in the contract yadda yadda yadda, but what could take this long? I mean Chuck wouldn't let his lawyer take this much time to explain every little detail if he himself didn't ask for it and why would he ask for that? He just told me that he was happy to move on with his life without Charlie."

Rufus groaned. Jenny had been getting more and more restless as time went on and now she was starting to make him restless. She just kept staring at the office door and wondered what was going on in there. The fact that Chuck had asked Lily and her lawyer to join him there with his lawyer gave her even more reason to be worried. She and Rufus were stuck in the living room waiting for this to unfold.

"Why would he ask Lily to be there if it was just about the papers?" She deadpanned while keeping a watchful eye on the baby monitor because she knew her son could wake up any minute from his nap.

"I don't know- moral support?" Rufus forced a hopeful answer.

"Since when did Chuck actually have feelings that required moral support?" Jenny muttered.

She was rewarded with a scathing look from her dad.

"Jenny, you're starting to get obsessive about this. It simply takes time for them to go through everything and Lily knows this stuff the best so let them handle it, just let it go for your own good. You'll drive yourself crazy." There was a note of sympathy in Rufus's voice, but she couldn't let her stubborn head stop from stressing.

"I guess you're right," She said quietly, frowning again, "I'm just nervous because seems like every time we move forward something comes up and we are back at square one."

"That's what happens when you start making babies with someone who is a narcissistic scumbag like Chuck." His eyes held the tiniest flicker of amusement which was odd because deep inside his heart was torn for her and it was a miracle that he still had his sense of humor.

"Be sure to remind me the next time." Jenny snorted lightly at the subject.

Rufus snapped his eyes at her, "You better make sure there isn't going to be a next time."

She laughed aloud, "Don't worry dad I'm not going to be doing that with anybody in a long time. Once was traumatizing enough."

He sighed and leaned back, spreading his arms along the back of the sofa, "Well next time you know exactly what will happen if you aren't careful," he answered hurriedly, trying to get off the subject, "You two should have made sure to use a-"

"I get the point!" Jenny stopped him before he went into detail, embarrassed she squeaked, "We all know what happened- I don't need a recap from my own dad okay?"

The man took a deep breath and looked at his daughter, "Yeah, Yeah, I know... believe me nothing is more uncomfortable than talking about _sex_ to your kids, but in future please be…safe." He shifted uncomfortably, quickly changing the subject, "As for now I'm good with one grandchild."

She smiled self-consciously, " I've learned from my mistakes… I really have, but right now a social life is not my priority. I'd rather dedicate my time to Charlie and I don't mind it at all. I don't even want to be thinking about dating and useless relationships which in the end will never bring me the joy or happiness that he brings."

The aching feeling of loneliness she had carried was gone. Jenny had never in her life felt so complete. There was actually someone who needed her and loved her unconditionally- it made her feel so overwhelmingly secure about everything. That missing piece from her life had always been Charlie. He lifted her spirits, gave her a reason to keep her head held high and to keep moving forward during these hard times.

"What about friends?" Rufus questioned curiously.

"Friends?" Jenny said laughingly. She hadn't thought about making any friends in Hudson really. Back then she was too busy worrying about how to hide her baby bump and getting through life in general. Now- with all of this mess; idea of even having a friend outside her family seemed distant, "I have Eric… and you guys don't I?"

"Of course you do, but even I get bored with the same faces so I can only imagine how a teenager would feel. Charlie is still so small and in Hudson your mom is always working. It's hard to interact with a baby who doesn't know how to answer yet. Sweetheart I don't want you to isolate yourself from the world," He looked at her pleadingly, willing her to be patient and listen to him, "You're a great mother Jenny, but remember to take care of yourself. By taking care, I mean talk to people and don't lock yourself inside four walls because that will make you bitter and sad."

Jenny's heart swelled at the memories that her dads words evoked. It seemed like forever ago when she had even talked and shared her real feelings to someone who was not Charlie.

At the same time the office door near the living room opened and she got up, guns fully loaded so to speak. Jenny paced the length of their living room, trying to remain calm. She hated that she was normally able to control her feelings and now, now she felt completely irrational. She hated to feel this insecure. The blonde was still bothered by how she had allowed herself to be drawn into this web just because they all had represented something bigger and better. Jenny still could not get over that she had even come back to Upper East Side. She fretted over what she would say when they came in.

"We didn't mean to keep you waiting." Chuck's lawyer said, apologetic.

Rufus was already gulping slightly at the look on Lily's face. She looked so disconnected from the world that it looked like someone was piling layers of bricks on her chest. The discomfort etched on her features was so raw- at that moment he knew whatever they were discussing back there had made her so upset that she couldn't even hide it.

Chuck on the other hand tried to stifle the semi-victorious smile that came to his face.

"Let's get this done then." Nervousness coiled in her stomach, as Jenny said firmly. The way everybody's body language changed in a split second was just confirmation that everything was going to spiral out of control.

She looked at him, shaking her head back and forth, the pictures of the puzzle all starting to come together, "I'm not going to wait another second longer, sign the papers now!" Her voice was hard yet her heart pounded erratically at the same time.

"We won't be signing any papers today." Chuck looked at her with anticipation for her reaction.

Jenny cleared her throat, composing herself, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Hey hold on a minute," Rufus spoke foolishly, his own tone firm and accusing, "What the hell is going on!"

"I've changed my mind that's what." He spat out.

* * *

><p>Blair spotted him with Serena across the room and knew what he was thinking. He was holding her hands and smiled at her like she was the only girl in the room. She wanted to slap the smile off, badly.<p>

"I guess they are back on." Nate looked at her before sipping his champagne. He didn't seem to be bothered by it like she was. Blair was so fed up with watching lonely boy from Brooklyn steal her best friend's heart again. She rather had seen her with Nate- at least that way they could eliminate the certain family out of their lives for a while like back in the day. The cruel fact that Chuck shared his offspring with Jenny and Serena shared her love with Dan was pure madness.

"Serena knows better than to run back into his arms. Just because he puts on decent outfit and says a few nice things doesn't mean that she would want to go back into that again."

Nate looked at her, confused, "I think we both know they were never really over each other so why resent that? Besides aren't you the one who has been pushing her out of your home when she has been avoiding him. You are basically pushing her into his arms."

"Really? You think I actually approve of them together?" She lifted an eyebrow in disbelief, "I never wanted Serena to be with Humphrey okay? But there is nothing more tiring than listening to S talk about S. Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. I'd rather gain ten pounds than let my best friends last name be _Humphrey_ one day."

He shrugged, "I really don't see the problem."

"Of course you don't. You have a soft spot for his sister."

"And you seem to be having a hard time not to think about her."

She waved her hand dismissively, "I'm not sure what you are referring to, but if I was you I would not go there."

"Oh drop the act Blair,"Nate made a face and groaned softly, "I know you. For the last few hours you have been dropping Jenny into our conversations when we could not be even talking about her or Chuck. Clearly it's on your mind and I admit- it's on my mind too, but at least I'm real enough to talk about it and not hide it."

Blair looked like she had been shot and her voice came out constricted, "Unlike you maybe I'm not ready to talk about it and this is my way of handling everything."

Wishing he could retract the venomous words that had just spewed, he looked like a lost puppy, "I didn't mean to… I mean I know you are not doing it on purpose, but maybe you should face the problem itself before it's too late. I can't believe I'm suggesting this, but you should really go and see him."

"You mean Chuck?" She looked deeply at her close friend.

"Yeah. You could go there and curse him out for good. Tell him how you feel about this mess. It really could help you to let go and move on. I mean you can't let what happened with Chuck make you give up on the possibility of finding a real relationship. Chuck was a ... complete mess and still is, but he's not the only one for you. He's like the ugly exception that happened. There are like thousands, no millions, of guys who aren't anything like him."

"I know that." Blair insisted.

"Do you?" He smiled and drank the rest of his champagne, "Plus I'm getting bored of acting like Serena and Chuck in the same package."

"If you were Serena and Chuck in the same package we would not be hanging out," Her eyes flashed with something he couldn't quite read before she smiled, "Nobody could handle that much in a same person."

Nate laughed, "Seriously though- we need to get our friends back. What the hell happened? When did everyone turn so psychotic?"

"Nathaniel, hate to break it to you, but we were always this way."

* * *

><p>She had to sit down for everything to sink in. Her mind and body was completely numb like she was drowning from the inside. This would be the part in soap operas where someone literally drowns in her tears. She brushed the tears from her face that were falling fast and silently. No matter how hard she tried, she could not stop them from falling. She thought she had drained her tear ducts completely, but oh how wrong she was.<p>

Rufus tried to soothe her by rubbing her back and telling her it was going to be okay. Lily had knelt in front of her and tried to get her to raise her gaze from her lap. She also tried to make her understand everything that was happening, but really she didn't even comprehend half of her words. Only words she could understand were Chuck's.

He had changed his mind.

She clenched her fists, determinedly stopping her tears and trying to block out how upset she was, but it swarmed at her, making her stomach tighten. She tried to swallow when a lump formed in her throat, threatening to bring her crashing over the edge.

"Why?" Jenny snapped and finally dislodged herself from the sofa. Her eyes shot open, wide and blurry. She blinked away the haze and felt them spark. Shaking her head she stepped towards him. Rufus didn't like seeing her so unstable with her emotions so he stepped between them. Obviously she was a tiny girl and couldn't really hurt Chuck, but the last thing she needed was an assault record.

"Get out of my way!" She ordered coldly, but her dad didn't move. He just looked at her with his big compassionate eyes. At the moment she wanted to push every single person out of the room except Chuck and lock the door.

"Jenny don't stoop so low."

"Yeah listen to your dad. He is good with advice." Chuck rolled his eyes and she wanted to beat the sarcasm out of him.

"You're as bad as him!" Jenny protested, "You told me it would be okay!" She gritted and moved enough to the side so she could look at the devil incarnated itself, "And you! You could have for once done something decent by thinking about other people, but not Chuck! Never Chuck fucking Bass! You have to ruin everything- you have to be there to torture people - Because nobody else matters right? But you know what Chuck! Newsflash you don't matter to people either! That's why you are alone! Every single soul who has known you ends up damaged because you're like poison. Your mom, oh and your dad! Let's not forget about _daddy_! Bart probably went peacefully because he knew he wouldn't have to deal with a bastard son like you anymore!"

The room was eerily quiet after her last sentence. Lily was appalled by her choice of words. Never in her life had she heard anything so harsh and heartbreaking. She looked over at Chuck, anger and disgust registered on his face. He wasn't the type to let anything show when someone insulted him, but Lily could tell he was taken aback by her comment about Bart. Even both of the lawyers looked stupefied.

Rufus reached out to Jenny to stop her violent outburst, but she pushed him away, "Jenny that's enough."

She shoved away his warm embrace, his caring arms.

"No it's not enough!" She raged back at him, her resolve was crumbling, and she returned her gaze to Chuck, "You know what Blair told me the same day- She told me that I had nobody who loved me which was probably the truth at the time, but today… this moment I'm the only one who has someone and I'm going to make sure it stays that way for a long time."

"I hate rain on your parade, but as of this day my son's birth certificate will have my name!" He sneered, proud and blew out a harsh breath, "Oh and I just filed for joint custody."

Chuck had honestly wanted to strangle her just seconds ago. He'd wanted to shake her until she was helpless on the floor. No one had ever made him feel like that before in his life. But oh, how he had been overcome with the urge to just wrap his hands around her little neck when she had the audacity talk that was about his father the way she did.

Shaking her head, she pressed her finger tips to her lips, trying to hold back the wrenching sobs that were building up in her body again. She didn't have to strength to ask the questions needed to be asked so she was glad her dad did that for her.

"What does this mean legally? Could someone finally explain why the hell we weren't there when these changes were made!"

"Rufus, that's not Mr. Campbell's fault," Lily defended her lawyer friend and continued, "I didn't want Jenny to be there when the official drafts for new papers were made I tried to protect…"

Jenny shouted abruptly "DON'T! Please, please don't tell me that you are trying to protect me." Her voice rose shrilly. "You can't! It is not humanly possible when this is about _my son_. If you wanted to protect me you would have told me this instead of letting him drop this bomb in my lap."

Her voice came out in a strangled whisper, "Jenny you need to understand they recorded every word exchanged in that room. If this goes to court and you would have reacted this way in there- I don't want them to have any reason to doubt you."

"My hate for him doesn't change the fact that I love my child!" She looked helplessly at the baby monitor on the table and was thankful her little boy was still asleep.

"We know that Jennifer, but the system has it flaws when it comes to cases like these," Harrison Campbell explained, "Let's get these facts clear so that you all can adjust and think about what has been changed here."

Chuck's lawyer jumped into the conversation, "My client took a paternity test this morning which we all witnessed and we got the results," He handed copies of papers to Jenny and Rufus, "As you can see there is no question that this is his child."

"What a shocker." She rolled her mascara smeared eyes as she read the paper.

"Charles informed me that he didn't feel comfortable with not being able to be a part of his son's life after we received the results," The lawyer kept going, "He made the difficult decision to change his view on this and made it very clear that he wants to be there for Charlie as a parent."

"So you get a paper telling you that you're his dad and suddenly it hits you?" Jenny demanded after a beat, "Am I supposed to believe that?"

"Believe what you want." Chuck answered bluntly.

"That's all?" She stared at him wide-eyed, "You are saying you want to have joint custody, but you can't express any emotion about being sorry-"

"You're interrupting the man, let him speak." He cut her off, his voice as sharp and jagged as broken glass. He then looked back at his lawyer signaling to carry on.

"Err, yes, so we have filed to have my clients name in Charlie Daniel Humphrey's birth certificate and you as his mother can always object this change, but you need to get talk to your own lawyer about that to get the process going," He handed her and her father additional two papers, "My client will also from this day on demands joint legal custody. Meaning he wants in addition of physical custody to have a say in his records, such as educational records, health records, and other records. Both of you would have equal decision-making status. This generally entails that both of you must be involved for major decisions, but the _day-to-day_ matters and issues are left to the parent who has physical custody of Charlie during that day."

"Just great…." She listened to every word what was told to her and every word he had said made everything sound worse, her eyes darted at Chuck, "I'm supposed to leave my son with someone who doesn't even know how to hold a baby! That's not fucked up at all!"

"You are absolutely right- Charles only has the will to be a parent and not the way. We would make sure he is educated by ordering him to take parenting classes and have all visitations supervised by you and a social worker." Mr. Campbell explained, "But of course this may not even go there if the judge doesn't see Charles fit to even be in his birth certificate."

Jenny plopped on the couch wearily.

Fear. Regret. Sadness. Nervousness. Anger.

So many emotions clouded her mind. Each emotion seemingly fought the other. Regret, however, appeared to dominate. She realized then that she had allowed this to happen no matter how this would be looked at.

Chuck told her she could leave. She didn't.

The doctor told her she could choose abortion. She didn't.

Her mother told her she needed to tell everybody and get everything legalized for Charlie's sake. She didn't.

She had always believed she could manage this, but right now her faith in herself was gone.

The cries of her baby boy wakened her from her thoughts. The small whimpers coming from the baby monitor get her up like they always do.

_Just for Charlie. Do it for Charlie. _

No matter how emotionally exhausted she was- it would never be an excuse not to take care of him.

"He needs me." She said, making sure everybody would catch that. He did need her and nobody could tell her otherwise.

As Jenny walked by him, he made sure she would know where they stood.

"I'll see you in court." Chuck drawled teasingly.

* * *

><p>Soon as they leave their home Rufus sighed in frustration. He wanted to go after Chuck and make him pay for everything, but the last time didn't turn out too good so he let go of that idea.<p>

Lily had walked into the kitchen to bury herself in cooking.

After the intense afternoon she needed some time for herself like anybody else in the situation.

Rufus didn't second guess his decision to go check on Jenny soon as it was possible so he made his way towards her bedroom and softly knocked the door. The silence scared him for a second, but worries in his mind faded when he opened the door.

"Okay stop that," Jenny grinned at the baby boy who was sitting in her lap on the floor, pulling her hair and everything he could get his hands on, "I said quit," she laughed, "I'm going to be mad soon…do you want mama to be mad…because I will- I'll be mad," she tried with mock firmness - Charlie giggling wildly at her. "I could say anything to you and you'd just giggle wouldn't you?" kissing all over his face, her silly voice making him giggle again.

"You two seem to just fine here." He said at the doorway before walking inside.

"I don't want him to know I'm upset," She struggled with the words, "He's seen me cry too much during this year. I don't want him to know I'm sad."

He nodded at the fact, unsure of what she wanted him to tell her.

Her eyes were wide and helpless as she looked up at him, "What if it really happens?"

Rufus swallowed then, hard. It was a question that he hadn't expected, catching him off guard and had him stuttering for a response because he didn't know what to answer.

He hated seeing her like that. He hated listening to her say the words that were too close to the truth, hated listening to her weary and broken voice. And most of all he hated the look in her eyes. It was anguish, it was pain. It was everything that he was feeling at that same moment.

"We will adapt- We can always make it work."

She hugged Charlie and kissed the top of his head, "I'm just not sure if I'm ready to make it work."

* * *

><p>"We really should have told her you aren't planning to make this a long term situation," He kept scowling at him as they arrive The Empires lobby, "Charles it's not fair to pull something like this on the poor girl and the boy."<p>

"She doesn't want me to be there forever, we have established that. A month or two will be nothing," Chuck murmured, "I'll play along and soon as I have enough money to make this work for me I'll say hasta la vista to the baby and the baby mama."

His lawyer shook his head. "Well, uh. . .I hope this works out for you, but don't give me the opportunity to tell you _I told you so_ when you are attached to the child and can't let go."

Chuck laughed, "I'd like to see that happen."

The man scoffed at his naive thought process and waved goodbye before heading out.

"You'd like to see what happen?" Her sweet voice rang in his ears.

He turned around and saw her there as gorgeous as ever.

"Blair."

* * *

><p>Wooohhh talk about a emotionally filled chapter... I'm all riled up myself gosh.<p>

Answers for a few questions: I don't know yet about the pairings for sure.. I like to write it as it comes. BUT I'm pretty sure every pairing possibly will somehow be established here. I'm not closing out Dan/Blair, or neither Jenny/Chuck, but those two pairings need a LOT of ground work before it can turn into a romance fest... so Ill just keep you guys on your toes teehee! I think you can pick up on which direction I'm going as the chapters go on. Like for example deep hatred towards someone can turn into something else.. I mean lust and hate have a very thin line there. And no I'm not talking about love. LUST.

Yay almost 100 reviews ! Thanks tons peeps! :)


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